A Dutch burr-walnut automaton longcase clock with strike and alarm

BY LAURENS EICHELAAR, AMSTERDAM, CIRCA 1740 -1760

Details

A Dutch burr-walnut automaton longcase clock with strike and alarm
By Laurens Eichelaar, Amsterdam, circa 1740 -1760
The scally-banded case with canted angles and a bombé-shaped plinth inlaid with C-scrolls and scrolling foliage, on claw-and-ball feet, the rectangular trunk door with hollowed corners, with a glazed lenticle with reverse glass painting depicting two winged maidens holding a crown, overlaid with a gilt-metal mount with Father Time, the hood with later sound frets and acanthus clasp, the partly later concave-moulded caddy-top with carved giltwood figural finials, the dial signed Louwerens Eichgeler Amsterdam on the silvered chapter ring with Roman and Arabic chapters, pierced steel hands, the matted centre with ringed winding holes and silvered seconds ring, with apertures for the days of the week and for the months with their corresponding deities, and with a moonphase arch with painted rolling moon, the surround painted with classical figures and with date aperture, strike/silent to the side, surmounted by an arch painted with a mythological scene, centred by a maritime scene with automaton sailing vessels floating on the waves, the four pillar movement with anchor escapement and Dutch strike on two bells, the alarm assembly mounted to the side of the plates, restorations and minor damages
295cm. high

Lot Essay

Laurens Eichelaar was active as a clockmaker from circa 1740 onwards. His workshop was located at the Haarlemmerdijk near the Wieringenstraat. After his death in 1763 one of his pupils, Jan Hoogeland, continued the business. Other longcase clocks by Laurens Eichelaar are now in the collections of the Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and in the Historical Museum in Basel. (Enrico Morpurgo, Nederlandse klokken- en horlogemakers vanaf 1300, Amsterdam, 1970, p. 38)

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