The Tower
Holbein’s Design for a Clocksalt — 1543
A clock designed by Holbein, for Henry VIII’s court.
- Work
- Design for Anthony Denny’s clocksalt
- Maker
- Hans Holbein the Younger
- Date
- 1543
- Held by
- British Museum, London
- License
- Public domain
- Master
- 1410×2700px
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.
Size
Sizes are capped to what this piece’s real source scan honestly supports — we never enlarge past the engraving.
$29.00
The story
In 1543 Hans Holbein the Younger — court painter to Henry VIII — drew this design for a clocksalt: a table ornament combining clock, hourglass, sundial, and compass, intended as Anthony Denny's New Year's gift to the king. It is horology at the moment it belonged to the fine arts: a timekeeper conceived by one of the greatest draughtsmen who ever lived, in pen, ink, and wash. The British Museum holds the sheet; the king received the object; only the drawing survives.
See it on your wall
The mechanism, made for a room
Holbein’s Design for a Clocksalt — 1543 printed large and framed, hung in rooms like yours. Every edition ships ready to become the piece the room is built around.
About this reproduction
- A faithful reproduction of an open-access work held by British Museum, London, served under the institution’s stated license (Public domain) — source linked below.
- Printed to order on 200gsm EMA matte art paper or 400gsm canvas; framed pieces sit behind acrylic.
- The artwork is never cropped and never enlarged past its scan — sizes stop where the engraving stops holding.
- Ships in 5–10 business days, rolled in a heavy-wall tube (framed pieces ship flat-packed).
- If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.
Source: British Museum, London — the scan this reproduction is printed from, and the page documenting its public-domain / open-access status. We are unaffiliated with any watch manufacturer, past or present.
