Lot Essay
An apparently identical tidal dial table clock by Joseph Smith is illustrated in Richard Barder, The Georgian Bracket Clock 1714-1830, Antique Collectors' Club, 1993, p.112, plate IV/34.
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JOSEPH SMITH, BRISTOL. CIRCA 1770
Details
A George III large ebonised and brass-mounted quarter-chiming table clock with tidal moon dial
Joseph Smith, Bristol. Circa 1770
The bell top case with stylised vase and acorn finials, Neptune mask mounts to front and rear, with brass handles above fishscale sound frets to the sides, all angles canted and with applied foliate cast openwork mounts, brass-lined front and rear doors, both with quarter frets, with brass-bound base and on squab feet, the brass dial with foliate spandrels to a silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, matted centre with mock pendulum and date apertures, blued steel hands, flanked by subsidiary rings with engraving to their centres, for regulation and strike/silent, signed on a silvered plaque over the arch JOSEPH SMITH BRISTOL, the painted rolling moon below with age of moon and tide indications, the eight day movement with eight pillars, triple gut fusees with verge escapement, hour strike on bell and quarter chimes on eight bells, pendulum regulated via a vertical bar above the backcock and secured with a sliding holdfast, the back plate engraved with foliate scrolls and a floral vase around a repeat signature; pendulum (bob stamped P. NAFTEL), winding key
23¾ in. (60 cm.) high
Joseph Smith, Bristol. Circa 1770
The bell top case with stylised vase and acorn finials, Neptune mask mounts to front and rear, with brass handles above fishscale sound frets to the sides, all angles canted and with applied foliate cast openwork mounts, brass-lined front and rear doors, both with quarter frets, with brass-bound base and on squab feet, the brass dial with foliate spandrels to a silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, matted centre with mock pendulum and date apertures, blued steel hands, flanked by subsidiary rings with engraving to their centres, for regulation and strike/silent, signed on a silvered plaque over the arch JOSEPH SMITH BRISTOL, the painted rolling moon below with age of moon and tide indications, the eight day movement with eight pillars, triple gut fusees with verge escapement, hour strike on bell and quarter chimes on eight bells, pendulum regulated via a vertical bar above the backcock and secured with a sliding holdfast, the back plate engraved with foliate scrolls and a floral vase around a repeat signature; pendulum (bob stamped P. NAFTEL), winding key
23¾ in. (60 cm.) high
Special notice
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