The new Sotheby's auction catalog presents various curiosities and in particular the work "The Clock Tower" of Venice: it is a model, made of painted and gilded copper from the late 295th century, early XNUMXth century, XNUMX cm high .
The Clock Tower of Piazza San Marco in Venice is the public clock par excellence in the city and is located in the northern part of the square, where the tower was built between 1496-97.
The tower clock has a High Renaissance design and was commissioned to Zuan Paolo Ranieri and his son Zuan Carlo, master watchmakers from Reggio Emilia.
They were asked to create an automation system for the Moors and the complexity of the clock was such as to require constant maintenance by the Ranieri family who were forced to move to Venice to be available in the vicinity of the tower until 1531.
Over the next 200 years, the clock mechanisms became increasingly unreliable until Bartolomeo Ferracina made substantial changes around 1750. It was then restored again in the 1850s and more recently in the 1990s.
The striking model of the tower and its clock are a scale model of the original that already existed in the XNUMXth century. Sadly, we don't know the maker of this magnificent piece, but he certainly was someone who had an intimate knowledge of the real watch and its very fine mechanisms. The most fascinating hypothesis is that this model was made in Ferracina's workshop in the years in which he made the modifications to the Renaissance mechanism.
The model was made with great accuracy and the proportions are exactly those of the real tower. The model was certainly built between the end of the XNUMXth and the beginning of the XNUMXth century. to house mechanisms of monumental proportions. This is the only model of the most famous clock in Venice and this exceptional and functioning model is a tribute to architecture and the great discoveries in early Renaissance watchmaking.
The auction also includes some properties of the Prince of Prussia. Head of the Department of Furniture and Decorative Arts Henry House comments: “The Treasures auction is undoubtedly one of the most important on our DECORATIVE ARTS calendar and allows us to present to international collectors works of museum quality and often from aristocratic and noble families. We are particularly proud to be able to offer the Prince of Prussia's collection”.
