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Telescoping spyglass and timepiece
English
mid-18th century
Medium/Technique
Gold, agate, diamonds, emeralds, rubies
Dimensions
L. 3 1/8 in.
Credit Line
Gift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild
Accession Number2013.1747a-b
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsTools and equipment – Optical
Decorative arts
Tools and equipment – Timekeeping
Decorative arts
Tools and equipment – Timekeeping
DescriptionThe watch jewel-set, and the body with brownish agate panels with silver-gilt mounts.
ProvenanceBy 1938, Alphonse de Rothschild (b. 1878 – d. 1942) and Clarice de Rothschild (b. 1894 – d. 1967), Vienna; 1938, confiscated from Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild by Nazi forces (no. AR 3205) [see note 1]; taken to the Kunsthistorisches Museum and stored at the Central Depot, Neue Burg, Vienna; August 29, 1941, given over to the Federal Monuments Office, Vienna and later removed to the monastery of Kremsmünster and subsequently to Alt Aussee; 1945, recovered by Allied forces; about 1947/1950, returned to Clarice de Rothschild, New York [see note 2]; by descent to her daughter, Bettina Looram de Rothschild (b. 1924 - d. 2012); about 1990/1992, given by Bettina Looram de Rothschild to members of her family; 2013, gift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 18, 2013)
NOTES:
[1] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. This spyglass appears in a Nazi-generated inventory of 1939 as no. AR (Alphonse Rothschild) 3205: "Theaterglas aus buntem Achat mit geschnittener Goldfassung, im Verschluss eingebautes Spindelührchen mit Randbesitz in kleinen Edelsteinsplittern, französisch, um 1760." Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien, Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 1102.
[2] This item was catalogued at the Central Depot, and given over to the Federal Monuments Office in 1941. Card no. AR 3205, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, available on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien online. It was probably among the many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis, which were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the looted artwork at the end of World War II, and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. In 1947 Clarice de Rothschild visited the salt mines at Alt Aussee, where she was able to identify the crates of works of art from her family’s collection, facilitating its return shortly thereafter.
NOTES:
[1] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. This spyglass appears in a Nazi-generated inventory of 1939 as no. AR (Alphonse Rothschild) 3205: "Theaterglas aus buntem Achat mit geschnittener Goldfassung, im Verschluss eingebautes Spindelührchen mit Randbesitz in kleinen Edelsteinsplittern, französisch, um 1760." Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien, Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 1102.
[2] This item was catalogued at the Central Depot, and given over to the Federal Monuments Office in 1941. Card no. AR 3205, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, available on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien online. It was probably among the many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis, which were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the looted artwork at the end of World War II, and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. In 1947 Clarice de Rothschild visited the salt mines at Alt Aussee, where she was able to identify the crates of works of art from her family’s collection, facilitating its return shortly thereafter.