A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY TALL-CASE CLOCK

PROBABLY NEW YORK CITY, 1790-1810

Details

A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY TALL-CASE CLOCK
Probably New York City, 1790-1810
The broken swan's neck pediment centering a brass eagle-and-urn finial flanked by ball-and-steeple finials above an eagle and vine-inlaid tympanum over an arched glazed door opening to a white-painted dial face with Arabic chapter rings, a seconds sweep and calendar aperture enclosed by gilded and painted cornucopia and floral spandrels and surmounted by a painted moon-face dial, all flanked by inlaid colonettes above a waisted case headed by swag inlay flanked by oval reserves over an arched and banded door centering an inlaid shell enclosed by oval stringing, flanked by inlaid quarter columns surmounting diamond-over pendant husk inlay above a banded box-base with swag inlay enclosing an inlaid shell enclosed by circular banding over an inlaid and shaped skirt, on French feet
96in. high, 19.5/8in. wide, 10in. deep

Lot Essay

The attenuated proportions, small scrolled pediment, and choice of inlays indicates that this clock was probably made in New York. The eagle silhouette centering the pediment is associated with the work of New York clockmakers as Effingham Embree (see Palmer, A Treasury of American Clocks (New York, 1967, p.18, fig.28), and the placement of inlaid motifs within ovals and circles on the door and box base are common to both New York and New Jersey clock cases. A clock in The Mabel Brady Garvan Collection at Yale University thought to have been made in New York or New Jersey, bears inlaid leaves on trailing stems and vertical strings of petals that are similar to those on the clock being offered here (see Battison and Kane, The American Clock (Greenwich, Connecticut, 1973), p.103).