Watch

Johan Ulrich Schmidt

ca. 1660 · Case: gold, and painted enamel set with garnets; Movement: gilded brass and steel, partly blued · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Until 1702 the maker of small gold objects ornamented with enamel and set with jewels belonged to the same Augsburg guild of goldsmiths as the maker of silverware. As a general rule goldsmiths were exempt from marking their enameled objects owing to the danger of cracking the enamel. The maker of the jewel-like case of this tiny watch thus remains anonymous. The maker of the movement may have been the son of Nikolaus II Schmidt, but he was admitted to the guild of clockmakers as the son-in-law of the Augsburg clockmaker Konrad Kruetzer rather than by direct inheritance. As the son of an Augsburg clockmaker, he would have enjoyed advantages that were not otherwise granted to aspiring clockmakers.

Artist

Johan Ulrich Schmidt

Date

ca. 1660

Medium

Case: gold, and painted enamel set with garnets; Movement: gilded brass and steel, partly blued

Culture

German, Augsburg

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917