Watch

ca. 1660

Not on view

Until 1702 the maker of small gold objects ornamented with enamel and set with jewels belonged to the same Augsburg guild of goldsmiths as the maker of silverware. As a general rule goldsmiths were exempt from marking their enameled objects owing to the danger of cracking the enamel. The maker of the jewel-like case of this tiny watch thus remains anonymous. The maker of the movement may have been the son of Nikolaus II Schmidt, but he was admitted to the guild of clockmakers as the son-in-law of the Augsburg clockmaker Konrad Kruetzer rather than by direct inheritance. As the son of an Augsburg clockmaker, he would have enjoyed advantages that were not otherwise granted to aspiring clockmakers.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Watch
Maker: Watchmaker: Johan Ulrich Schmidt (German, born ca. 1622, master 1648)
Date: ca. 1660
Culture: German, Augsburg
Medium: Case: gold, and painted enamel set with garnets; Movement: gilded brass and steel, partly blued
Dimensions: Diameter: 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm)
Classification: Horology
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.1518
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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ca. 1565–75

Watch, Pierre Vernede, Case: rock crystal and enameled gold mounts; Dial: gold, champlevé enamel, and painted enamel; Movement: gilded brass and partly blued steel, French, Agen — Watch
Watchmaker: Pierre Vernede
ca. 1650

Partisan of Wolfgang Wilhelm of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Steel, wood, textile, German, Bavaria — Partisan of Wolfgang Wilhelm of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine
German, Bavaria
dated 1615

Repeating watch, Francis Perigal British, Case: partly enameled gold; Dial: white enamel with black numerals and silver hands set with diamonds; Movement: gilded brass and partly blued steel, British, London, for Turkish market — Repeating watch
Movement by Francis Perigal
or Francis Perigal Jr.
probably ca. 1770

Schwegel in B, G. Walch German, Wood, German (Bavarian) — Schwegel in B
G. Walch
1750–70

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