DIANA AND THE CENTAUR
Clock, automate, and drinking game
Hans Jakobe I. Bachmannr, 1602/06
39,5 cm
Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, Austria
This automaton serves not just as a timepiece (the dial is on the centaur’s breast), but as a "Trinkspiel" – a drinking game. Its hidden mechanism allows it to slide around the table within a certain perimeter. The centaur rolls its eyes; Diana’s head moves from side to side; a hunting hound lifts its own. Witnesses to this would have been left open-mouthed. Then the centaur would have sent its golden arrow at one of the guests, then required to raise a toast and empty his glass. Diana hunting was a preferred theme for this type of object.
DIANA AND THE STAG, DRINKING GAME
Joachim Friess, German, Augsburg, ca. 1620
Partially gilded silver, enamel jewels (case), iron
Wood (movement), 37.5 x 24.1 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York