Monstrance Clock or Mirror Clock, ca. 1570
Made in Nuremberg, Germany
Case of gilt bronze; dial of gilt brass; movement of steel
In addition to showing the hours, the astrolabe dial of this clock (parts of which are now missing) was made to indicate the apparent motions of twenty-three stars in the northern hemisphere, the position of the sun and the moon in the zodiac, the astrological houses of heaven, and the age and phase of the moon in its monthly cycle.
The recessed ring encircling the chapter of hours gives the day of the year, saints’ days, and other calendrical information for the period beginning in 1570 and ending in 1610. The dial on top is for setting the alarm. The inclusion of a clock such as this one in a Kunstkammer would have demonstrated the owner’s familiarity with cosmology, astronomy, and astrology.
Source: metmuseum.org
One of the earliest of documented sightings of aerial phenomena took place on April 4, 1561 at dawn over Nuremberg, Germany. What was described as a war in the heavens, with a wide variety of craft ranging from spheres to spear-like cylinders to crosses and “plates”.
The sky was apparently filled with the machines, clashing in battle for well over an hour. The battle was such that a winner was perceived as well. Spheroid UFOs were seen emerging from cylindrical ‘motherships’. At the conclusion of the battle, it seems a magnificent, black, spear-like super-ship of some kind came upon the scene. An ancient woodcut was created by Hans Glaser to document the event.
