Pierre de Fobis (1506−1575)
Gilt-Brass Table Clock
Case Probably Aix-en-Provence, c. 1530
5 x 2 3/16 in. (12.8 x 5.6 cm)
Bequest of Winthrop Kellogg Edey, 1999
Accession number: 1999.5.129
One of the earliest spring-driven clocks to have survived is a table clock most likely made in Aix-en-Provence about 1530 by Pierre de Fobis. Its complex movement is set into a typical sixteenth-century French clock case, inspired by classical architecture and ornaments rediscovered during the Renaissance.