Dr. Dorin Barbu, expert in metal restoration and the Head of the Restoration Laboratories inside Brukenthal National Museum, was awarded this year with the Grand Prix at the National Exhibition of Restoration in Craiova for the “Ano 1664 Cibinii” work of restoration on a table-clock with pendulum. The piece is part of the Museum’s collections and dated 1664 as inscribed on the interior of the framework.

The clock was purchased in 1882 by Ludeke the goldsmith for the amount of 40 florins. The framework is made of gold plated brass, of a parallelepiped shape, being 9.5 cm in height. On the interior of the framework there is the inscription “ANO 1664 CIBINII” and the monogram of the master who made the framework. On the sides there are two representations of Hercules with the lion and the columns of Jupiter’s temple, respectively. The lid has the alarm bell on top. The restoration process brought out the discovery of a failed attempt to transforming the original clock into a pendulum one, procedure that precedes the entrance of the piece in the Museum’s collections, proving that the local clock-smiths did not leveled to the European workshops of the time. Nevertheless, the exact dating of the piece casts a new light on the evolution of “CIBINII” mechanisms while the interior monogram stands for the craftsmanship of goldsmiths active in Sibiu as early as 17th.