BRACKET ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK. JOHANNES PIETER KROESE, AMSTERDAM, 18TH CENTURY.

Bracket clock with astronomical dial and mahogany wood case. Amsterdam, 18th century. Johannes Pieter Kroese (1702-1778). Chimes of half past the hour, alarm and music. Machinery in proper working order. The clock case has a rectangular base and is decorated at the corners with gilt bronze appliqués featuring vegetal motifs topped with grotesques of female busts. Pinecones and a pearl adorn the upper portion, which is raised towards the center and has softened lines. The dial, protected by a front door, displays Roman numerals, with lines and Arabic numerals every five minutes. It has a rectangular opening for the day and is surrounded by vegetal motifs reminiscent of rocaille. In the two corners are a dial for the alarm and another for various chimes. At the top, a half-sphere, surrounded by a metal band engraved with the signature, displays the phases of the moon using a starry sky disc with a human face painted on it. The pendulum-type machinery has been engraved on the outside with plant motifs, as can be seen on the back of the box, which also has a small door with a glass sheet. The style is typical of 17th-century Northern European clocks, developed primarily in England and used to highlight the quality of the clock's movement, in contrast to French examples, which focused more on the aesthetic appearance of the exterior. Thus, the case is much simpler than in France, but the mechanism was far more precise, and the technical intricacies found in examples like this (music box, calendar, chimes, alarm, etc.) were more common than in French clocks. Johannes Pieter Kroese was a master clockmaker from Wuppertal (Kruse) who worked in Amsterdam from around 1729 in his workshop, where his son, Pieter Kroese, also worked, succeeding him in 1775. He was especially renowned for his astrological clocks, some more complex (with zodiac) and others simpler, like the one shown here. Astronomical examples by this master are found only in important private collections, in the hands of his descendants, or in prominent institutions such as the Dutch National Clock Museum in Zaandam.

· Size: 33x19x55 cms.