Clock

Purchased from Goldschmidt-Rothschild by the city of Frankfurt under National Socialist persecution, November 11, 1938 [2];

Transferred from the city of Frankfurt to the Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, no. 8181, after November 11, 1938-February 26, 1949 [3];

Restituted by the city of Frankfurt to the heirs of Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, February 26, 1949 [4];

Consigned by the heirs to the dealers Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, stock no. 2575, by June 8, 1950-February 26, 1954 [5];

Purchased from Rosenberg & Stiebel by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1954.

NOTES:

 [1] Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild was a German Jewish collector who was persecuted under the German National Socialist (Nazi) government. In early 1938, Goldschmidt-Rothschild commissioned an inventory of his art collection for tax valuation. This Taxationsliste detailed the art objects located at Goldschmidt-Rothschild’s Frankfurt home, located at Bockenheimer Landstrasse 10. This clock is listed as no. 471 in the inventory, and was located in the Red Salon. Institut für Stadtgeschichte, Frankfurt am Main, Museum für Kunsthandwerk 46; Museum Angewandte Kunst, inventory book, vol. III, inv. no. 8181, copies in Nelson-Atkins curatorial file. On September 5, 1938, Goldschmidt-Rothschild was forced to sell his home to the city of Frankfurt, but was allowed to rent a small apartment within the home, where he remained until his death in 1940.

 [2] On November 11, 1938, the day after the Kristallnacht pogrom (sometimes called Novemberpogrome) against German Jews, Goldschmidt-Rothschild was forced to sell his collection to the city of Frankfurt. Copy of the sales contract dated November 11, 1938 between M. von Goldschmidt-Rothschild and the city of Frankfurt, Institut für Stadtgeschichte, Frankfurt am Main, Rechneiamt IV,2, fol. 29r–30r. Copies in Nelson-Atkins curatorial file.

[3] Control of most of the decorative art objects, including this clock, was transferred to the Museum für Kunsthandwerk, but they remained on display in the Rothschild home as a branch of the museum. An inventory of the collection assigned this clock no. 8181 and included a photograph of the piece. Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, inventory book, vol. III, no. 8181.

[4] Goldschmidt-Rothschild executor Hans Bräutigam acknowledged the return of all the objects to the Goldschmidt-Rothschild heirs from the city of Frankfurt (Nos. 1–1443) in a list dated February 26, 1949. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, Best. 460, Nr. WiK F 7405/06, fol. 59; see also the written agreement of 5.16.1949 between the heirs and the city of Frankfurt, ibid., fol. 60–62.

[5] Bräutigam and Rosenberg & Stiebel were corresponding about the collection as early as January 1949. The exact date this clock arrived in New York is unknown, but the dealer quoted a price for it to the collector Nicolas de Königsberg on June 8, 1950. It was lent by Rosenberg & Stiebel to the Nelson-Atkins’ 20th anniversary exhibition in December 1953, after which it was acquired by the Museum. Frick Art Reference Library, MS.065 Rosenberg & Stiebel Archive, Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild Estate documents; Sales and Inventory Records, Purchases and Sales, 1952-1955, p. 134.