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Lot 134
A 19th century gilt bronze and ivory bust of Napoleon The carved ivory face beneath the bronze bicorn hat, over the bronze body, standing on a spreading alabaster plinth base, the reverse signed Canova. 22 cms high. CONDITION REPORTS: Some splits and staining to ivory, wear to patination, fritting and wear to base.
Lot 162
A Tibetan patinated bronze temple bell Of typical form, decorated with three different scenes of Buddha amongst calligraphic script, the domed top decorated with a dragon and phoenix chasing a flaming pearl beneath a suspension loop. 17 cms high. CONDITION REPORTS: Striker wire replaced, some patination wear, general wear.
Lot 250
A 18th/19th century Chinese patinated bronze model of an oxen and carriage With traces of original gold splash decoration, the underside with inscribed character mark. 33 cms long. CONDITION REPORTS: Patination wear, scuffing and scratching, small areas of repair between oxen and carriage, general wear.
Lot 254
An 18th century Chinese bronze censor The pierced domed cover surmounted with a dog-of-fo, the body with twin handles and a band of geometric decoration, standing on elongated feet modelled as stylised masks issuing tongues. 22.5 cms high overall. CONDITION REPORTS: Generally in good condition, expected wear, some slight dints, one foot slightly pushed into body.
Lot 257
A late 19th/early 20th century cloisonne decorated patinated bronze koro The domed lid surmounted with a dog-of-fo above the main florally decorated body with twin elephant mask handles, standing on a stepped spreading plinth base. 49 cms high. CONDITION REPORTS: Some patination wear, some chipping, scuffing and scratching, damage/repairs to handles, two tusks lacking, general wear.
Lot 258
A 19th century Oriental cloisonne decorated bronze koro The removable pierced domed lid surmounted with a mythical beast, the main twin handled body decorated with panels of cloisonne decoration. 16 cms high. CONDITION REPORTS: Finial loose, some denting, scuffing, scratching and chipping, general wear.
Lot 362
A 19th century gilt bronze mounted alabaster mantel clock The circular enamel dial with Arabic numerals and decorated with floral swags, surmounted by a dove, standing on a floral swag mounted reeded column above a plinth base, standing on cast gilt bronze feet. 19 cms high. CONDITION REPORTS: Some gilt wear, some slight fritting, general wear.
Lot 811
A table, the specimen marble inlaid top on a bronze base with three bird supports, indistinctly signed, 50 cm diameter x 54 cm high See back cover colour illustration Condition report The top: General wear and scratches, a chip slightly larger than my thumbnail to the slate coloured border (and a few other smaller) chips, a crack of approx. 14 cm to the top and side, the marble top rests on a wooden section which is 60% complete, the base is in a market fresh condition, with a fair degree of dirt/dust, and a large dent to the rim, just below one of the birds. From a local private client
Lot 112
A Chinese style bronze figure, of Guanyan, on a lotus leaf, 39 cm high See illustration Condition report Report by RB Generally good condition, with a varied degree of patination, the base panel section has a lozenge shape floral motif. Report by NG Hollow cased. Some knocks and bumps. Grubby and some discolouration around torso
Lot 119
A very rare German Renaissance gilt brass astronomical monstrance table clock case originally fitted with a Universal Astrolabe, In the manner of Jeremiah Metzger, Augsburg, circa 1570, the movement and dial centre later, The high grade English single fusee movement dating to around 1830 with deadbeat escapement, five-spoke wheel crossings, concealed clicks to the fusee and twenty-four hour motionwork to the large diameter frontplate, the dial with later centre engraved with foliate scrolls on a matted ground and incorporating tripartite banner bearing spurious inscription Reighs, Dresden, 1536, set within original narrow twenty-four hour chapter ring with asterisk half-hour markers, button touch pieces and outer track engraved for every minute, the case with ovoid urn finial to the disc-shaped upstand engraved with vestigial subsidiary day-of-the-week dial annotated with respective planets to rear opposing fine foliate scroll cast and pierced rosette within moulded surround to front and with delicate chased open strapwork fret to the circumference, the rear of the principal section with centre cut-out to accommodate the later movement leaving border engraved with lines for stereographic projection around the celestial equator stamped POLUS, MITNECHTLICH to upper margin opposing MITLEGLICH, POLUS at the base, the left and right hand margins with a series of horizontal lines annotated with symbols for the signs of the Zodiac, the outer edge of the ring divided for degrees annotated in five degree intervals for every quadrant set within conforming outer scale to the moulded surround, the edge of the shallow drum casing with continuous border etched in low relief with stylised Arabesque strapwork within tightly moulded bands, the whole raised on a patinated bronze figure cast as Atlas seated on a fine pieced and chased strapwork dome with moulded collar over shallow ogee-shaped foot decorated with conforming continuous Arabesque strapwork, 34.5ins (13.5ins) high; now mounted on a circular turned ebonised wood base, 39.5cm (15.5ins) high overall. The current lot can be closely compared with an example signed by Jeremias Metzger and dated 1564 residing in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Museum Number 4273-1857). Another similar example is in the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, and is illustrated in Bassermann-Jordan, Ernst von THE BOOK OF OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES on page 146 (Fig. 118); whilst a third (which is presumably lost) features in a full height portrait of Anna, Duchess of Bavaria painted by Hans Mielich of Munich in 1556. The presence of a twenty-four hour chapter ring to the main dial of the current lot differs to that of the example by Metzger in the V. & A. which has a relatively simple and fairly conventional twelve-hour dial layout incorporating an alarm disc to the centre. The surviving elements of the dial also indicate that it would have had at least two-hands (hours and minutes) whilst the relatively narrow proportions of the hour and minute rings suggests that space was required in the centre for a reasonably complex feature. The most obvious candidate to occupy this space would be a form of standard astrolabic dial (similar to that fitted to the example in the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna) however the presence of a Universal Astrolabe to the rear of the clock would perhaps render this unnecessary. It is therefore more probable that the dial centre was possibly fitted with a wide concentric band of self-adjusting overlaid sectors giving the lengths of the day and night which, when used, were often positioned within a ring annotated for the signs of the Zodiac with the relative positions of the sun and moon indicated by a pair of hands issuing from a disc engraved with a diagram of aspects to the centre. Close examination of the monstrance clock that features in the portrait of Anna, Duchess of Bavaria by Hans Mielich seems to support the possibility of such a dial layout (which would have been essential for providing the correct time under the system of unequal hours in use during the 16th century). The rear of the case of the current lot is fitted with the remnants of a Universal Astrolabe with enough of the engraving surviving to establish that it was laid-out to a design described and published by the Spaniard Juan de Rojas y Sarmiento in 1551 (although he was describing a design which was already known to exist). The Universal Astrolabe differs from a standard astrolabe in that it projects the celestial sphere from pole to pole (hence ‘from the side’) rather than across the equator as with a normal astrolabe. The inherent advantage of this type of projection is that the relative position of celestial bodies can be plotted for different latitudes whilst standard astrolabes require the position of the stars to be determined and recorded on a template (rete) before their positions for a given time and date can be observed. The Universal Astrolabe is particularly useful for calculating the length of the day for any given time of the year which is particularly relevant when considering the system of unequal hours in use at this time. The Universal Astrolabe originally fitted to the current lot was probably not connected or ‘driven’ by the movement in any way - it was most likely to have bee supplied as a form of accessory to allow independent calculations to be made. The disc-shaped surmount incorporates a dial for days-of-the-week to one side, this would have probably been fitted with a central disc (applied with a pointer to the circumference) as the centre is currently plain with little gilding. The other side is finely cast and pierced with foliate strapwork which resembles the decoration sometimes seen to the exterior of German ‘tambour’ clock watches of the period (see Basserman-Jordan, Hans von THE BOOK OF OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES page 65, fig. 41a). The fact that this panel is pierced (coupled with the delicate fretwork to the outside edge of the surmount) suggests that it may have also housed a bell - perhaps for an alarm (in addition to the day-of-the-week calendar mechanism). This possibility is supported by evidence in a form of a slot in the case beneath indicating that their was a mechanical connection between the movement and whatever was originally housed within the surmount. The base of the clock would have been fitted with a bell (probably for sounding just the hours). The Atlas figural support appears to be a relatively standard casting as the same basic model appears to have been used on two of the other examples noted above. The unusual low relief ‘Arabesque’ decoration to the ogee-shaped bottom moulding and to the edge of the shallow cylinder of the case can be compared to that on a drum-shaped table clock by Jakob Marquart, Augsburg dating to around 1560 illustrated in Maurice, Klaus and Mayr, Otto THE CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE, German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650 on page 203 (exhibit 39). This decoration reflects the influence of Middle Eastern design borne out of a strong trading relationship with the Ottoman Empire. The current lot is an extremely rare survivor (albeit in partial-form) from the ‘golden’ period of early German Renaissance clockmaking with strong stylistic similarities to an example from arguably the most important workshop of the period - that of Jeremias Metzger of Augsburg. The original fitment of a Universal Astrolabe to the rear of the case appears to be an extremely rare, if not unique feature of possibly documentary importance.
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