ANTIQUE 19thC AUSTRIAN SILVER & ENAMEL CLOCK, HERMANN RATZERSDORFER c.1890
Antique late-19th Century Austrian exceptional solid silver & hand painted enamel miniature clock, of traditional upright form, the corners set with columns, canopy mounted with figural finials. The front, sides and back hand painted with mythological scenes in enamel, depicting Mercury and Roma. Hallmarked Austrian-Hungarian silver, Makers mark HR (Hermann Ratzersdorfer).
Reference Number: A9073
Antique late-19th Century Austrian exceptional solid silver & hand painted enamel miniature clock, of traditional upright form, the corners set with columns, canopy mounted with figural finials. The front, sides and back hand painted with mythological scenes in enamel, depicting Mercury and Roma. Hallmarked Austrian-Hungarian silver, Makers mark HR (Hermann Ratzersdorfer).
Reference Number: A9073
Antique late-19th Century Austrian exceptional solid silver & hand painted enamel miniature clock, of traditional upright form, the corners set with columns, canopy mounted with figural finials. The front, sides and back hand painted with mythological scenes in enamel, depicting Mercury and Roma. Hallmarked Austrian-Hungarian silver, Makers mark HR (Hermann Ratzersdorfer).
Reference Number: A9073
DESCRIPTION
Antique late-19th Century Austrian exceptional solid silver & hand painted enamel miniature clock, of traditional upright form, the corners set with columns, canopy mounted with figural finials. The front, sides and back hand painted with mythological scenes in enamel, depicting Mercury and Roma. Hallmarked Austrian-Hungarian silver, Makers mark HR (Hermann Ratzersdorfer).
Born in Bratislava in 1819, Hermann Ratzersdorfer moved to Vienna at the beginning of the 1840s, where he started working as a silversmith. He specialised in silver and gold objects of vertu, tableware and jewellery, often enamelled and decorated in the style known as Historicism. He was also acclaimed for his rock crystal objects.
In 1843 he registered his first mark; two years later he exhibited at the Viennese Trade exhibition and in 1851 he participated at the London Exhibition winning a medal for a beautifully ornate toilet glass.
Four years later he won the second prize at the Paris Exhibition and in 1871, at the London Exhibition, he was given a diploma of honor and praised for its colorful creation in the neo-Renaissance style (Strong Roy, The collector's encyclopedia, Victoriana to Art Deco, Studio Editions, 1990, p.224).
When he retired, in 1881, his son Julius took over the business.
Nowadays Hermann Ratzersdorfer’s enamelled pieces, often combining precious metals and rock crystal, are sought after by international collectors.
CONDITION
In Great Condition - No Damage, clock is in full working order.
SIZE
Height: 13.5cm
Width: 8.5 x 5.4cm
Weight: 367g