Objekt 5
Automated clock with figure and jumping dog
Description
A dark-skinned young man in a kind of soldier's uniform indicates the hour with a staff on a rotating sphere. As the hour strikes, the African turns his head and the little dog at his feet jumps. Since the 16th century, many African slaves were also shipped to Europe and, as servants, brought the touch of the exotic to European courts. Depictions of "Moors" like this one, for example as servants dressed as soldiers, were therefore common in 17th and 18th century art.
Object description
Germany, end of 16th century.
Copper and brass partly gilded, silver, steel partly blued, animal sinew, bell bronze
Deposit Dr. Eugen Gschwind Foundation, Basel, G.151
Inv. 1983.1151.