A CHARLES II EBONY GRANDE SONNERIE STRIKING BRACKET CLOCK

JOSEPH KNIBB, LONDON, CIRCA 1685

Details

A CHARLES II EBONY GRANDE SONNERIE STRIKING BRACKET CLOCK
joseph knibb, london, circa 1685
The gilt-brass dial with skeletonised Roman chapter ring engraved on the border with every minute, finely pierced and sculpted blued steel hands, the finely matted centre with small calendar aperture, finely chased winged cherub spandrels, latches to the dial feet and to the seven ringed baluster pillars, the three train fusee (chain lines) movement with triple-divided front plates, verge escapement, the Grande Sonnerie strike with the countwheels planted on the backplate with a small diameter calibrated quarter wheel on the right side with interconnecting horizontal steel bar giving trip release every quarter hour to the four x twelve calibrated large diameter hour countwheel, the quarters sounding on a small bell and the hours on a larger bell, typical tulip engraved backplate, signed in Knibb's manner with a curved signature Joseph Knibb Londini Fecit, the case with foliate gilt-brass mounts to the cushion-moulded top with Knibb's D-ended foliate-tied handle and four foliate-urn finials, swivel cherub escutcheon to the front door, glazed sides and rear door, flat moulded base

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Bearnes of Torquay, March 9, 1995, acquired for 76,000 pounds

Lot Essay

Only about six grande sonnerie bracket clocks by Joseph Knibb are known to have survived. They all have the distinctive skeletonised dials, a feature that Knibb reserved for his rarest and most complicated clocks. Perhaps the most interesting feature however is the triple-divided front plate which was devised to enable the clockmaker to access one or two of the wheel trains without having to disassemble the entire movement.
For biographical details see Lot 241.

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