Clock and gunpowder horn
Also titled Klok en kruithoorn
c. 1590 - c. 1596
- Medium
- iron (metal)
- Classification
- mechanical clock
- Dimensions
- height 38.9 cm x width 20.5 cm x depth 16.4 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
This clock was originally intended as merchandise for sale or as a gift. It was hung up in the ‘Save House’ as the only means of providing a sense of time during the long, polar nights. On 3 December 1596, it froze. Barentsz and Van Heemskerck shoved a parting letter into the gunpowder horn when they left. Three centuries later, the horn was rediscovered with the letter still inside. The letter cannot be exhibited due to its fragility.
