Precious Time: The Jeremias Metzger Clock, 1564

Clock
Jeremias Metzger
German, 1564
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made almost five hundred years ago, this clock is as shining and elegant as it was in 1564. It is the work of famous German clockmaker Jeremias Metzger (or Metzker), of Augsburg.

With its vertical, circular dial on a footed base, this type of clock is known as a “monstrance” or “mirror” clock for its similarity in shape to those items. Clocks such as this were fashionable in Europe between 1580 and 1630 and almost always featured cases of cast and chased bronze or of cast and beaten copper. These cases were commonly gilded.

This was not your run-of-the-mill utlitarian clock. This was designed to be a treasury piece and an heirloom and would have formed part of a collection of scientific intstruments and automata which was designed to impress as well as educate.


Jeremias Metzger served an uppercrust clientele and his pieces have graced the collections of notable historical features such as the Archduke Ferdinand II. Today, Metzger’s clocks are considered exceptional museum pieces.