A very rare German Renaissance four-train double-hour and quarter-striking table clock movement Unsigned, probably Augsburg or Nuremburg, circa 1575 The iron, steel and brass posted quadruple-chain fusee movement with square section corner uprights enclosing going train with verge escapement now regulated by a foliot oscillating above the top plate, set to the right beside the quarter-striking train which in-turn is positioned in front of the two side-by-side hour-striking trains behind, each originally with locking plates to the rear pivot plates (now lacking) and vertically pivoted hammer arbors, the wheelwork entirely of iron except for the spring barrel walls and fusee and each of the trains set between individual pairs of vertical pivot plates, the quarter train with nag's head release via a starwheel to the going centre arbor and countwheel set behind the dial incorporating trip for the first hour striking train, the second hour train originally tripped by the first via detents set to the rear of the movement (now lacking), the front with rectangular gilt brass dial applied with later vestigial alarm disc and Roman numeral chapter ring incorporating cruciform hour markers, with sculpted steel hands formed as a sword and halberd within applied original outer minute track set within fruit inhabited foliate scroll engraved surround incorporating inverted cupola pendant apron panel, the rear with twin side-by-side hour striking dials (one lacking annotated countwheel dial insert) applied to a conforming foliate strapwork engraved panel, distance between top and bottom plates 20cm (7.875ins); 38cm (15ins) high overall including the two-tier bell stand. Provenance: Property of a private collector; purchased at Bonhams and Goodman sale of the The Melbourne Clock Museum, 29th April 2008. When considering the potential date of the current lot a cursory survey of dated German Renaissance table clock movements made during the second half of the 16th century reveals that the use of brass within the mechanism became more widespread as the century progressed. Initially brass was employed just for the fusees and spring barrel walls, then also for the movement pivot plates, and finally (by around 1600-20) for the wheelwork as well. With this in mind the current movement (using brass only for the fusees and spring barrel walls) can be dated to around 1575. This approximate date is also supported by the lack of warning to the striking mechanism as this was not generally adopted until around 1600. In addition to this the engraved decoration to the dial panels exhibits a mixture of naturalistic leafy foliate scrolls and formal strapwork into a matted ground which can be compared to the background decoration seen on a complex astrolabe-dialled table clock dated 1568 attributed to Jeremias Metzger for Casper Bohemus of Vienna in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in Maurice, Klaus and Myer, Otto THE CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE, German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650 on page 185). The unusual specification of the striking mechanism, where the full-hour is repeated shortly after the initial sounding, is believed to have been adopted to confirm the hour in the event that the strike was misheard the first time around. This repeat-hour striking system is most often associated with Italian clocks using the six-hour system where it is given the term 'Ribotta'. In German Renaissance work however re-striking hours are particularly rare although not unheard of; indeed a clock utilising this system, albeit in a two train configuration, was sold at Patrizzi and Company's sale of Pre-pendulum European Renaissance Clocks held in Milan on the 24th May 2009, lot 56. The present mechanism is very unusual, perhaps unique, in that the repeat-hour employs and entirely separate second hour train complete with additional fusee. This results in the movement being 'quadruple' fusee and it is believed to be the only one of its type.