A GEORGE I EBONY AND SILVER-MOUNTED MINIATURE BRACKET TIMEPIECE

WILLIAM WEBSTER, FROM THE LATE MR. THO: TOMPION LONDINI

Details

A GEORGE I EBONY AND SILVER-MOUNTED MINIATURE BRACKET TIMEPIECE
William Webster, from the late Mr. Tho: Tompion Londini
The case of diminuitive proportions with silver handle to the cushion-moulded top, the front door mounted with four silver foliate spandrels, simple concave-moulded foot, carved ebony circular door moulding to the 78 mm. diam. dial with silver Roman and Arabic chapter ring, the finely matted centre with small calendar aperture with silver calendar ring, signed on a silver plaque Willm: Webster Exchange Alley London, pierced blued steel hands, the tiny 3 1/3 in. high single chain fusee movement with five vase-shaped pillars, re-built verge escapement, the backplate engraved with a bird and basket of fruit amongst scrolling foliage, signed within an engraved oval William Webster from the Late Mr. Tho: Tompion Londini, foliate engraved movement securing brackets to the case
7 in. (17.8 cm.) high

Provenance

The collection of the late Lord Plender
The collection of the late Dr. Bruce Maclean

Literature

R.W. Symonds, Furniture in the Collection of Lord Plender, Apollo, Vol XIV, No. 83, November, 1931
R.W. Symonds, Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks, London, 1940, p. 159, fig. 119
R.W. Symonds, Thomas Tompion, his life and work, London, 1951, pp. 209 & 289, fig. 202
Bruce Maclean, The Webster Family of Clockmakers, Antiquarian Horology, No. 7, Vol. 1, June, 1955, pp. 93-96, fig. 2

Lot Essay

William Webster, (d. 1734) was unquestionably a fine clockmaker having been both apprentice and subsequently Journeyman to Thomas Tompion. On the latter's death Webster lost no time expounding his own virtues and announced in the London Gazette in 1713 that he had spent a considerable time with the said Mr. Tompion '...and by his Industry and Care is fully aquainted with his secrets of the said art'
This extrordinary timepiece is undoubtedly one of the smallest bracket clocks ever made and quite possibly the earliest to feature a round dial in a square door, a style that John Ellicott later frequently employed. Its obvious absence of ever having feet would indicate that it originally had a wall bracket, perhaps silver-mounted with a sliding lower section designed to reflect the domed clock case. The inscription on the backplate indicates that it was made very soon after Tompion's death in 1713.

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