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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Table clock · Bâle

Table clock with automata

Verified

Beneath the clock, a street scene displays thirty figures (blacksmiths, woodcutters, laundresses, barber, bear handler, knife-grinder, acrobat, musicians, etc.). They represent inhabitants of the city of Basel engaged in their daily activities, selected by Emil Wick, who was a native of the city. On either side of the clock, whose dial appears at the center of a pediment crowned by a rooster, a Basel herald strikes the hours and half-hours on two bells, while Death, armed with his scythe, turns an hourglass at each hour.

Technical facts

Inventory number
MIH IV-512
Object type
Table clock
Place of production
Bâle
Dating
last quarter of the 19th c.
Materials and techniques (catalogue wording)
Bois, Laiton, Technique peinture
Inscriptions (catalogue)
DEO JUVANTE CONSTRUXIT HOC OPUS EMIL WICK

Historical significance

  • Beneath the clock, a street scene displays thirty figures (blacksmiths, woodcutters, laundresses, barber, bear handler, knife-grinder, acrobat, musicians, etc.). They represent inhabitants of the city of Basel engaged in their daily activities, selected by Emil Wick, who was a native of the city. On either side of the clock, whose dial appears at the center of a pediment crowned by a rooster, a Basel herald strikes the hours and half-hours on two bells, while Death, armed with his scythe, turns an hourglass at each hour.
  • Emil Wick, a native of Basle, built one of these models of each of his five godchildren.
  • Realistic observation and humor are combined in this work. Another, almost identical clock was described by Alfred Chapuis, who cites the names of several Old Basel residents playfully caricatured in this scene. The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Basel preserves a simpler example.

Photographs

Table clock with automata (MIH IV-512)
Table clock with automata (MIH IV-512) — Musée international d'horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Museum collection photograph, rights review pending. MIH collection record
Table clock with automata (MIH IV-512)
Table clock with automata (MIH IV-512) — Musée international d'horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Museum collection photograph, rights review pending. MIH collection record

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. Musée international d'horlogerie, online collection record, inv. IV-512: https://collection.mih.ch/fr/collection/item/19527/

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.