Studio: international art (26.1902)

Long Case Clocks

when the hood was removed or the door of it was
open; later it was engraved around the circle,
between the figures VII and V. About 1715 name-
plates appear to have been first used, and individual
makers afterwards used their discretion in the
matter, the Latin inscription going out of use
except for such popular mottoes as Tempus fugit,
Tempus edax rerum, etc.

Fig. 1 represents a long case clock by the cele-
brated Thomas Tompion, who has been designated
"the father of English clockmaking." He was
clockmaker to Charles II., and was held in high
esteem, as may be judged from the fact that, at his
death in 1713, he was accorded the exceptional

FIG. 7.—CLOCK, ENRICHED FIG. 8.—CLOCK, DECORATED

WITH MARQUETRY, BY WITH MARQUETRY, BY

JAMES CLOWES, ABOUT JONATHAN LOWNDES,

17°° ABOUT 1705
I90

honour of burial in Westminster Abbey, where his
tombstone may be seen, nearly in the middle of
the nave. The cherubs' heads which adorn the
corners of the dial form another indication of the
period. They are to be seen on most clocks of
the best makers till just before the close of the
seventeenth century, when the spandrels were filled
with a head in the centre of more elaborate sur-
roundings of brass, usually well chased, and gene-
rally gilded. Then more ambitious designs came
into use, notably two Cupids or nude boys
supporting a crown in the midst of ornamental
scroll-work ; or a crown with crossed sceptres and
foliage. These were followed later in the eight-
eenth century by corner pieces of a rococo
character, and then came the more degenerate
patterns of the George III. period, devoid of taste
and badly finished, many being merely rough
castings, untouched with a chasing tool.

The Tompion clock shown in Fig. i is in the
possession of Mr. D. A. F. Wetherfield, from whose
splendid collection of early long case clocks the
examples figured from i to 9 are taken.

Fig. 2 is a timepiece by William Clement, which
has a very pretty dial at the side, in connection
with mechanism for regulating the pendulum.
This is a most unusual feature; indeed, I have
never met with a similar adjunct in any other
clock. William Clement, who was a sort of
chamber-master working for other craftsmen, is, I
may mention, credited as the first maker of long
case clocks.

Another Tompion clock of later date, and which
goes a month between windings, is reproduced in
Fig. 3. A stately specimen by Edward East,
another noted maker, in a beautiful marquetry
case, is shown in Fig. 4.

Daniel Quare, contemporary of Tompion, and
unexcelled as a craftsman, is represented by
Fig- 5-

Fig. 6 is by Joseph Knibb ; the case is a good
example of " oyster-shell" veneer with inlay orna-
mentation.

James Clowes, another well-known maker, is
represented by Fig. 7.

Fig. 8 is by Jonathan Lowndes, and Fig. 9
by Christopher Gould. Each of the foregoing
examples of early square dial clocks contains some
particular feature of excellence, and all will, I
think, repay examination.

An arched top to the dial appears to have been
first added early in the eighteenth century for the
reception of an equation of time register. It is so
utilised in a clock by Tompion, which is in the