Automaton clock in the form of the Madonna and Child
Clockmaker: Nikolaus Schmidt the Elder German
Not on view
Automaton clocks are related to the mechanized figures that adorned medieval clock towers, where the Madonna and Child could appear as part of a mechanical theater on feast days. Small domestic automata with religious themes were popular in the seventeenth century and versions of this model, like many of the period, were cast in quantity. Here, the Madonna’s crown functions as a clock dial and her scepter points to the hour.
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