Accession No

1771

Brief Description

perpetual calendar and snuff box, by I. C. Pretzfelder, German, 1746

Origin

Germany; Nurnberg

Maker

Pretzfelder, I. C.

Class

horology

Earliest Date

1746

Latest Date

1746

Inscription Date

1746

Material

wood; metal (pewter)

Dimensions

diameter 64mm; height 47mm

Special Collection

Fitzwilliam collection

Provenance

On loan from The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Donated by Charles Holden-White to the Fitzwilliam Museum. C. Holden-White collection no. 1935-124.

Inscription

‘I. C. PRETZFELDER
IN NURNBERG’

Description Notes

Turned wooden (mahogany?) case. Inside screw-top lid a mss. table on paper in red and brown ink headed ‘1746 January’ and giving saints days for each month to ‘Junius’; beneath the lid a perpetual calendar in cast pewter, the pierced disc with one cut out sector marked ‘SONNEN LAUF’ by zodiac symbol; ‘MONAT’ by ‘IANU 31 FEBR. 28 ...’ and 4 windows marked ‘TAG LANG’ by 3.5-17-3.5; ‘NACHT LANG’ by 3.5-17-3.5; ‘SONN AUFG’ 3.5-17-3.5; this section may be screwed out, verso plain; beneath a (?)snuff-box; the base marked ‘1746’ may be unscrewed - inside the lid the continued table of saints days. Beneath a second perpetual calendar in cast pewter marked with a crown and ‘CALEN=DA IUM PERPETUUM’ to cut out sector revealing a table of dates 1-31; ‘SONTAG’.

References

Events