Paulus Bramer is first recorded in an advertisement dated June 22, 1715 in which he offers various clocks for sale; it is thought he was born in 1696. A partnership was formed between Paulus and his son on August 20, 1750, after which the clocks were signed Paulus Bramer en Soon, as on this clock. Paulus died on April 29, 1770.
This walnut longcase clock is surmounted by carved gilt-wood figures of Atlas flanked by Mercury and Ceres, symbolising Commerce and Agriculture. The trunk door is inset with a cast brass lenticle of Europa and the bull.
The clock is presently on free loan by Collection Zuylenburgh at the Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium, Franeker – click the thumbs to see it there.
The provenance of the longcase clock is the Time Museum, Rockford, Ill., that closed in 1999. It has a pendant, mentioned in H.M. Vehmeyer’s Clocks, Their Origin And Development 1320-1880.