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Miniature Bracket Timepiece
Translated as: Miniature Bracket Timepiece with 8 day time movement. Unusual design of gilt cherub spandrels with crossed wings.
Maker of movement: Tompion, Thomas
Dial: Dial plate 4 1/8 inches (10.5 cm) across and 4 1/2 inches (11.4 cm) high, the centre engraved with the signature `Tho:Tompion Londini fecit' and a floral design. The gilt cherub spandrels of unusual design with crossed wings, a type which appears to have been restricted to Tompion minature clocks; Christopher Wren used a similar motif in a number of his buildings. The narrow silvered chapter ring with the 5 minute numbers within the minute divisions and simple half hour markings. Silvered alarm-setting disc behind the hour hand and a winding square within the chapter ring at XII for the going. Blued steel hands of simple early design. The dial plate with spare holes formerly used to fix a different chapter ring and one dial foot cut off. Movement: 8 day timepiece movement, with quarter repeating and alarm, with latched pillars and dial feet. Verge escapement set at about 30o to the vertical with the pendulum between the front plate and the dial, consisting of two wires in diamond formation to avoid the hour wheel pipe and with a lenticular shaped bob visible in a cut away section at the base of the dial. Repeating quarters on a small bell and hours on a larger one, the hours 7 - 12 being repeated as 1 - 6 to save power. The alarm train set at right angles to the going and wound through a hole in the right-hand case fret. The movement withdrawn from the case from below after sliding forward the bottom front moulding, necessitated by the very close fit of the movement in the case. Case: Blued steel with gilt metal mouldings, basket top and frets in side and rear openings. The basket top and frets of scrolling acanthus design. The door with silver moulding round glass and silver escutcheon. The case has no rear opening. Numbered `21' on rear right foot.
History note: Dr Thurston; sold at Sotheby's, July 1932, ADD TITLE as `the property of Dr. Thurston'; then S.E. Prestige Esq.
S.E. Prestige Bequest
Height: 19.0 cm
Height: 7½ in
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1965) by Prestige, Sidney Ernest
Charles II
17th Century, Late
Production date:
circa
AD 1680
Case
composed of
steel
Movement
composed of
brass (alloy)
Accession number: M.3-1965
Primary reference Number: 131083
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Miniature Bracket Timepiece" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/131083 Accessed: 2024-11-22 00:54:01
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/131083
|title=Miniature Bracket Timepiece
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 00:54:01|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-131083
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa29/m_3_1965_1_201305_amt49_mas.jpg"
alt="Miniature Bracket Timepiece"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Miniature Bracket Timepiece</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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