Floor mirror clock of Augustus II (one of a pair)

One of a pair of floor clocks in a case decorated with mirror tiles, a unique set in the world both for their decoration and for their history. They represent the period of baroque fascination with illusion, which was created by the decorations of Galerie des Glaces of Louis XIV in Versailles, mirror cabinets of many European monarchs or magnate residences. In their reflections they multiplied the vision of splendour created by decorators of representative interiors.

The cabinet case of the Wilanów clock, its proportions and decorative motifs refer to the projects of the French court decorator Daniel Marot from the end of the 17th century. The dial face, repeating the pattern of English longcases, indicates seconds, minutes, hours and days of the month with three reconstructed hands. The mechanism, made and signed by the little-known Breslau clockmaker Christoph Benjamin König, has a weight drive, a hook catch, and a long pendulum. It strikes quarter hours, half hours and hours.

A pair of “mirror” clocks was used by the Polish king August II to decorate one of the halls of the Blue Palace, which he gave to his natural daughter Anusia Orzelska as a name day present. After Anusia left for permanent residence in Dresden, the palace returned to the hands of Augustus II and in 1730, together with the furnishings left behind, was handed over to Maria Zofia Czartoryska as part of the lease agreement of the Wilanów Palace, which was her property. It came to Wilanów between 1751 and 1760.

AK