Clock case with Arachne and Athena

Meissener Porzellan Manufaktur, 1727

This clock case is one of the Meissen porcelain factory’s most ambitious models from its early years. It is a piece of furniture executed in porcelain and designed as a small building. The two women crowning it represent the weaver Arachne and the goddess Athena. Athena was so jealous of Arachne’s skill that she transformed her into a spider.

  • Artwork typeclockwork, schoorsteenklok, mechanical clock
  • Object numberBK-17437
  • Dimensionsheight 44 cm x width 20.8 cm x depth 13.5 cm, height 33.1 cm x width 21 cm x depth 14 cm, height 14 cm x width 8.3 cm
  • Physical characteristicsbeschilderd porselein

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Clock case with Arachne and Athena

  • Object type

  • Object number

    BK-17437

  • Description

    Schoorsteenklok met beschilderd porselein. De klok heeft een trapeziumvormige basis. De vier overhoeks geplaatste poten staan op vergulde ringen en zijn in reliëf versierd met een acanthusblad. Het lichaam wordt bekroond door een gewelfde koepel waarop twee vrouwenfiguren. Het onderste deel van drie wanden van het lichaam is aan weerszijden van een poort opengewerkt. In de poort zitten of knielen chinese figuren. De achterwand is versierd met Indianische Blumen, de wanden met Höroldt-chinoiserieën.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    • signature: ‘Barrey à Paris’
    • number: ‘135’
    • factory mark

Creation

  • Creation

    • porcelain company: Meissener Porzellan Manufaktur, Meissen
    • porseleinmodelleur: attributed to Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, Meissen
    • porseleinmodelleur: George Fritzsche, Meissen
    • clockmaker: Barrey, Paris

  • Dating

    1727

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    beschilderd porselein

  • Dimensions

    • height 44 cm x width 20.8 cm x depth 13.5 cm
    • height 33.1 cm x width 21 cm x depth 14 cm
    • height 14 cm x width 8.3 cm

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of de Vereniging Rembrandt, het Mondriaan Fonds, het Nationaal Aankoopfonds van het ministerie van OCW, de VriendenLoterij en de heer H.B. van der Ven

  • Acquisition

    purchase 2021

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; collection Franz (1871-1950) and Margarethe Oppenheimer (1878-1949), Berlin 1927;{Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1927, p. 44, no. 135.} ? from whom to Dr Fritz Mannheimer (1890-1939), Amsterdam and Paris, possibly 1936 or 1937;{Den Blaauwen 2000, p. 8; BDA Archiv, Restitutions Material K42-1 Oppenheimer Franz, Letter 16 May 1938, ‘An den Oberabschnitt SS’, p. 2; Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, letter from Magistrat der Stadt Wien, dated 31 October 2016.} purchased from his estate, en bloc, by the Dienststelle Mühlmann, The Hague, for Adolf Hitler's Führermuseum, Linz, 1940;{Korthals Altes 1974, pp. 21-22.} war recuperation, SNK, 1945;{HNA, SNK Archive, 2.08.42, inv. no. 548.} on loan, with 1,702 other objects, from the DRVK to the museum, 1952;{Note RMA.} transferred to the museum, 1960;{Note RMA.} restituted to the Oppenheimer family, 14 October 2019;{Website Dutch Restitution Committee, RC 1.164.} sale, Sammlung Oppenheimer, Important Meissen Porcelain, New York (Sotheby’s), 14 September 2021, no. 64, to the museum

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

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  • Clock case with Arachne and Athena
  • Clock case with Arachne and Athena
  • Clock case with Arachne and Athena
  • Clock case with Arachne and Athena