WILLIAM WASBROUGH, BRISTOL. THIRD QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

Details

A George III mahogany and parcel-gilt longcase clock
William Wasbrough, Bristol. Third quarter 18th century
The hood with carved flowerhead caps to the swan neck pediment, applied with gilt-brass foliate scroll mounts below, with blind fret panel above a stepped breakarch above the door, outset stop-fluted and part gilded columns to the front and conforming pilasters to the rear, breakarch glazed side panels, with dentil and waisted moulding in two tiers below, the trunk with unusual 'fiddle' shaped door and flanked by stop-fluted and part gilded pilasters, the plinth with raised wavy sided panel and on four bracket feet, the 13in. wide gilt-brass cut-away dial with foliate and female mask spandrels to a silvered chapter ring, the centre also silvered and engraved with a farm scene and with a subsidiary seconds ring, with date aperture and cut steel hands, signed on a silvered plaque spanning the arch WILL.M WASBROUGH BRISTOL above a painted rolling moon, engraved on the orbs with a sunset and a swan respectively, the four pillar movement with anchor escapement and rack strike on bell
97¾in. (248cm.) high

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Wasbrough, William. Recorded in Bristol 1766 and earlier, married Mary before 1755. Took many apprentices, including Andrews and Coleman.

The architecture of this clock case, with flowered Roman temple pediment and serpentine and cusp-arched door panel, relates to the George II 'picturesque' style of the 1740s. These features also appear on a clothes-press cabinet bearing the 1740s label of the celebrated Clerkenwell cabinet-maker Giles Grendey (d.1780 ). See C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, Fig.432.

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