Enrico Morpurgo - Nederlandse klokken- en horlogemakers vanaf 1300

Morpurgo, Enrico. Horlogemakers van Nederland en hun werk
Amsterdam: Scheltema & Holkema, 1970
ISBN 90-6060-006-1

In this work, Enrico Morpurgo compiles a comprehensive directory of Dutch watchmakers based on intensive research in public and private collections as well as in auction catalogues, museum collections and archives. The starting point was the scant mention of Dutch watchmakers in earlier standard works such as Nanne Ottema(Geschiedenis van de uurwerkmakerskunst in Friesland, 1948) and G.H. Baillie(Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, 1929). A.C.M. Mensing had already begun collecting names from archives before the Second World War; this work was continued and expanded by Morpurgo.

The work covers not only clockmakers in the narrower sense, but also manufacturers of related instruments such as astrolabes, night watches and sundials.
Morpurgo describes the methodological difficulties of identification: auction entries are often incomplete or misleading, objects can appear more than once, and forgeries - such as the mass signing of other people's movements with the name "Breguet" - make the work more difficult.

The index also contains data on workshop specialisations (e.g. chains, springs, bridges, dials, hands) and documents the extensive division of labour that developed in the 18th and 19th centuries. The systematic recording is based on names, types of clocks or instruments, locations and, as far as possible, construction or design data.

The directory lists clockmakers from the Netherlands. Please click on the following links if you are looking for clockmakers from Germany, Great Britain, Sweden or France.

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