A Dutch walnut musical automaton longcase clock

BY RINSE DURKS, GROU, THIRD QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

Details

A Dutch walnut musical automaton longcase clock
By Rinse Durks, Grou, third quarter 18th Century
The line-inlaid case with bombé plinth and canted angles, on later claw-and-ball feet, the rectangular trunk door with hollowed corners and oval glazed lenticle with gilt-metal mount depicting Father Time, the reverse with a silvered plaque inscribed 1/De Goede Vriendschap/2/De Engelse Schaefrin/3/Clemeen/4/Aria/5/De/NagtWact/6/Mars/De Huron/Pieter Wessels/A GROUW, the hood with sound frets and acanthus clasp, the later concave-moulded caddy-top with giltwood figural finials, the dial signed Rense Durks Grou on the silvered chapter ring with arcaded Roman and Arabic chapters, black painted pierced steel hands, the matted centre with silvered seconds ring, date aperture and apertures for the days of the week and month with corresponding deities, and with rolling moonphase, with a painted lake scene to the arch with several automaton ships moving along the waves, the seven pillar movement with anchor escapement and Dutch strike on two bells and playing music on a nest of 10 bells via 20 hammers, the musical movement possibly by Pieter Wessels, minor restorations
299cm. high

Lot Essay

The Frisian clockmaker Rinse Durks was active since circa 1750. He was one of the first "stoelklok" makers in Grou. He died in 1787. (Enrico Morpurgo, Nederlandse klokken- en horlogemakers vanaf 1300, Amsterdam, 1970)
Another musical automaton longcase clock, signed Rinse Durks, currently in the collection of the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, is illustrated in J. Zeeman, De Nederlandse Staande Klok, Zwolle, 1996, pp. 333-334.

See illustration

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