Astronomical Clock on Stand
Aurelius a San Daniele, Johann Georg Dirr
Mimmenhausen (case), Vienna (movement), 1770
Movement and dial: steel, copper, silver; case: wood
290,0 cm
Inv.-Nr. 33/134
From the Cistercian Abbey at Salem, Prof. Dr. Ernst von Bassermann-Jordan Bequest, 1933
Gallery 46
This monumental clock on stand was originally an integral part of the furnishings of the abbot's apartments in the Cistercian abbey of Salem on Lake Constance. Superbly carved and brightly painted putti playing with animated signs of the zodiac dominate the Louis XVI case, which is placed on a table-like substructure. These lively sculptures are among the most magnificent pieces to have been made by the sculptor Johann Georg Dirr, who took over Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer’s workshop and continued to run it, working primarily for Salem. The highly sophisticated clock movement can reproduce both past and future constellations of the stars.
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
