Gio(vanni) Treffler

Gio(vanni) Treffler, Augusta. Made for the Italian market, circa 1660. Very fine, rare and early, walnut day and night table clock with single hand. Rectangular, walnut, the interior lined with sheet metal, ring for supporting the light source, concave cresting, the “chimney” in the top, hinged front door with glazed shaped pendulum aperture, the side with inverted corbels, raised on bun feet, the back with small hinged door to access the light. Brass chapter ring with radial Roman numerals and half-hour markers, rectangular iron dial plate painted with cherubs flying amongst the night sky above a landscape, cut-out sector for the night hours revealing a disc pierced with the Arabic hour numeral, the quarters pierced with Roman numerals above. Pierced and engraved brass hand. 95 mm., circular, gilt brass with ring-turned pillars, fusee with chain, lipped barrel, verge escapement with cow-tail pendulum and screwed brass ball regulation bob, brass dust cover. Movement signed. Dim. 49 x 39.5 x 16 cm. overall. Notes Provenance: Masterpieces from The Time Museum, Sotheby's, October 13, 2004, Lot 524. Time Museum Inventory No. 305. Giovanni Filippo Treffler Also known as Johann Philipe Trefler, he was born in Augsburg in June 1625. He trained as a clockmaker and moved to Florence in 1656. This night clock is a very early example of an Italian made clock with a pendulum and it may well be that Treffler was inspired by the experiments of Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642), the famo