Page 36 - Demo

BACKPLATE
Joseph Knibb’s early engraved backplates are particularly lovely because the engraver had a larger field to play with, so his use of flowers and foliage had more freedom than his later more densely engraved backplates.
There are perhaps four examples known to have the very unusual fish engraved on the backplate. R.A. Lee refers to the fish as a dolphin and since 1964 they have been known as ‘dolphin- engraved’ backplates. However we now know that this fish is in fact a sturgeon. The sturgeon is native to the rivers and the coastlines of Eurasia and North America; few in 17th century England, would have ever seen one. So why is one engraved on the backplate of a table clock made in 1675? The answer almost certainly lies in religion – specifically the persecuted Catholic religion. In the 8th century the lady Amalberga of Temse was made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church after she had performed various miracles including crossing the river Scheldt on a giant fish. In the heraldry and art celebrating St. Amalberga of Temse the giant fish is depicted as a sturgeon. So it would appear that the client who ordered this clock from Joseph Knibb was probably a closet Catholic and, like all deeply religious people, he couldn’t resist alluding to his faith with this little conceit which very few others at the time could ever have understood.
The Lady Amalberga of Temse, attributed to Franz Ittenbach c.1870