Lot Essay
Daniel Delander (d.1733) was apprenticed to Charles Halstead on 25 April, 1692 and was made Free of the Clockmakers' Company on 3 July, 1699. Very little is known about Delander's early life although his name is entered in the Register of Apprentices as Delaunder or De Lander giving perhaps some indication as to his background. After his Freedom in 1699 Delander was recorded by the Spectator as being "Servant" to Thomas Tompion (1639-1713). In 1714 he moved from Devereux Court to a house between the two Temple Gates in Fleet Street.
Quite what being Servant to Thomas Tompion meant may never be known but even without this tantalising reference to his formative years it is clear from this clock that Delander's work was heavily influenced by Tompion's workshops. The present clock combines all the qualities that one might expect from a movement by Tompion; the chamfered and tailed cocks on the front plate, the unsparing use of brass, the finish of the wheelwork and the positive and clinical lay-out of the motion and wheel work. The use of latches was hardly the preserve of the Tompion workshops but the bold curved examples used on this clock could only have been created through Tompion's influence.
Delander appears to have been somewhat of a maverick clockmaker, but a genius nonetheless. He did not make a series of profitable 'commercial' spring and longcase clocks as did Tompion or George Graham (1673-1751). From what may be learned from Delander's few surviving clocks he concentrated on making a very small number of exacting commissions to exceptional and individual standards. He also understood that an exceptional movement and dial is only exceptional if the case complements it perfectly. The present clock bears witness to this and also many of his other commissions such as the famous silver-mounted ebony barometer (Ex Samuel Messer Collection, Christie's, London, 5 December, 1991, lot 15) and the silver-mounted grande sonnerie bracket clock (ex Rous Lench collection, Christie's, London, 4 July, 1990, lot 106).
Quite what being Servant to Thomas Tompion meant may never be known but even without this tantalising reference to his formative years it is clear from this clock that Delander's work was heavily influenced by Tompion's workshops. The present clock combines all the qualities that one might expect from a movement by Tompion; the chamfered and tailed cocks on the front plate, the unsparing use of brass, the finish of the wheelwork and the positive and clinical lay-out of the motion and wheel work. The use of latches was hardly the preserve of the Tompion workshops but the bold curved examples used on this clock could only have been created through Tompion's influence.
Delander appears to have been somewhat of a maverick clockmaker, but a genius nonetheless. He did not make a series of profitable 'commercial' spring and longcase clocks as did Tompion or George Graham (1673-1751). From what may be learned from Delander's few surviving clocks he concentrated on making a very small number of exacting commissions to exceptional and individual standards. He also understood that an exceptional movement and dial is only exceptional if the case complements it perfectly. The present clock bears witness to this and also many of his other commissions such as the famous silver-mounted ebony barometer (Ex Samuel Messer Collection, Christie's, London, 5 December, 1991, lot 15) and the silver-mounted grande sonnerie bracket clock (ex Rous Lench collection, Christie's, London, 4 July, 1990, lot 106).