An Augsburg figural clock with an African man and an ostrich

An Augsburg figural clock with an African man and an ostrich

Gilt bronze and copper, engraved silver, brass. Later day-running movement with hourly striking to a bell. The movement and figures attached to an upper panel supported by six columns. Next to a diminutive ostrich, an African man dressed as a Roman soldier holding a sabre stands with his hand resting upon a palm tree supporting the globe-shaped clock. The equator forms the hour aperture, with a single stationary hand dropping down from a wreath surrounding the globe. Engraved to the upper panel: Hannß Buschmann A. (presumably originally the plate). The movement, arrow, and lower panel later additions. H 34.6 cm.
The figures by Hanns Buschmann, 2nd quarter 17th C., the movement presumably late 18th C.

The clock movement was presumably originally housed in a closed case made of brass. The upper panel is thought to have originally formed the plate, as it is highly unusual for a clock to be signed to the upper panel in this manner.

Provenance

Private collection, Lower Saxony.

Literature

This type in: Maurice, Die deutsche Räderuhr, vol. I, Munich 1976, illus. 368 ff.