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Lot Essay
Intricately crafted and regionally expressive, this shelf clock illustrates the talents of the clockmaker David Wood (1766-1855) of Newburyport, Massachusetts and a local cabinetmaker during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This diminutive clock, with a two-day movement and anchor-recoil escapement, illustrates Wood's most common surviving model. This model, which required less brass, wood and labor than an eight-day tall-case clock, made it a less expensive alternative. The case of this clock, however, features exquisite inlaid decoration and, more elaborate than most other Wood clocks, was probably among the costlier of these products. The clock's inlaid decoration, such as the saw-tooth border on the crest and geometric stringing on the hood and case, are patterns seen on furniture of this era from coastal Massachusetts. With Doric order columns and finely cast-brass handles, this clock was made to resemble more substantial case furniture in the early years of the nineteenth century (for examples of related inlay, see Benjamin A. Hewitt, Patricia E. Kane and Gerald W. R. Ward, The Work of Many Hands: Card Tables in Federal America, 1790-1820 (New Haven, CT, 1982), p. 75; Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966), pp. 30-31).
While the cabinetmakers who made the cases for Wood's clocks are unknown, the idiosyncratic inlay on the bonnet's crest is virtually identical to that on a clock that sold, Christie's, New York, 26 January, 1995, lot 171 (fig. 1) and both cases were undoubtedly made in the same shop. The same crest profile is seen on another David Wood clock in the Chippendale style and dated to 1785-1795, raising the possibility that this case may have been made before 1800 (Skinner's, 3 November, 2007, lot 512). However, the bowed skirt with two "peaks" and the quarter-fan painted spandrels are features seen on another Wood shelf clock that may date closer to 1815 (Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack, vol. 8, p. 2271, P5700, same clock illustrated in American Art Galleries, Girl Scouts Loan Exhibition of Colonial and Early Federal Furniture, Portraits and Glass (New York, 1929), no. 735). The related clock has a distinctive crest with alternating inlaid rays emanating from the center, and other Wood clocks with this crest design bear dials with painted naval battle scenes from the War of 1812, thus dating their production after this time (Sack, vol. 2, no. 1028; website of Gary R. Sullivan Antiques, Inc., https://www.garysullivanantiques.com/Inventory/tabid/66/ProdID/16/Defaul t.aspx) .
One of the era's most prolific clockmakers, David Wood was born in Newburyport and is thought to have trained under Daniel Balch, Sr. (1735-1790) or possibly Jonathan Mulliken (1746-1782). First established in 1792, his shop was variously located in Market Square or on State Street until 1830, when his shop moved to a rented lot on Merrimack Street. Wood remained in Newburyport until 1848 when, two years after his wife's death, he moved to live with his son in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he died in 1855 (see Martha H. Willoughby, "Biographies of Clockmakers," in Timeless: American Masterpiece Brass Dial Clocks, Frank L. Hohmann III, ed. (New York, 2009), p. 364; Paul J. Foley, Willard's Patent Time Pieces: A History of the Weight-Driven Banjo Clock 1800-1900 (Norwell, Massachusetts, 2002), pp. 337-338; Philip Zea and Robert C. Cheney, Clock Making in New England, 1725-1825 (Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts, 1992), pp. 97-98).
While the cabinetmakers who made the cases for Wood's clocks are unknown, the idiosyncratic inlay on the bonnet's crest is virtually identical to that on a clock that sold, Christie's, New York, 26 January, 1995, lot 171 (fig. 1) and both cases were undoubtedly made in the same shop. The same crest profile is seen on another David Wood clock in the Chippendale style and dated to 1785-1795, raising the possibility that this case may have been made before 1800 (Skinner's, 3 November, 2007, lot 512). However, the bowed skirt with two "peaks" and the quarter-fan painted spandrels are features seen on another Wood shelf clock that may date closer to 1815 (Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack, vol. 8, p. 2271, P5700, same clock illustrated in American Art Galleries, Girl Scouts Loan Exhibition of Colonial and Early Federal Furniture, Portraits and Glass (New York, 1929), no. 735). The related clock has a distinctive crest with alternating inlaid rays emanating from the center, and other Wood clocks with this crest design bear dials with painted naval battle scenes from the War of 1812, thus dating their production after this time (Sack, vol. 2, no. 1028; website of Gary R. Sullivan Antiques, Inc., https://www.garysullivanantiques.com/Inventory/tabid/66/ProdID/16/Defaul t.aspx) .
One of the era's most prolific clockmakers, David Wood was born in Newburyport and is thought to have trained under Daniel Balch, Sr. (1735-1790) or possibly Jonathan Mulliken (1746-1782). First established in 1792, his shop was variously located in Market Square or on State Street until 1830, when his shop moved to a rented lot on Merrimack Street. Wood remained in Newburyport until 1848 when, two years after his wife's death, he moved to live with his son in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he died in 1855 (see Martha H. Willoughby, "Biographies of Clockmakers," in Timeless: American Masterpiece Brass Dial Clocks, Frank L. Hohmann III, ed. (New York, 2009), p. 364; Paul J. Foley, Willard's Patent Time Pieces: A History of the Weight-Driven Banjo Clock 1800-1900 (Norwell, Massachusetts, 2002), pp. 337-338; Philip Zea and Robert C. Cheney, Clock Making in New England, 1725-1825 (Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts, 1992), pp. 97-98).