A LATE GEORGE III ORMOLU, WHITE AND BLACK MARBLE STRIKING MANTEL CLOCK

BY JAMES TREGENT

Details

A LATE GEORGE III ORMOLU, WHITE AND BLACK MARBLE STRIKING MANTEL CLOCK
By James Tregent
The circular white enamel glazed, dial signed 'JAMES TREGENT LONDON NO. 3081', with eccentric main dial with Roman and Arabic chapters and pierced gold hands, blued steel sweep centre seconds hand, quarter second dial above the signature flanked by subsidiary dials, the right-hand for regulation, the left for decoration, the movement with circular gilt plates signed 'James Tregent Leicester Square London no. 3081' around the pierced foliate and chased mask on the backplate with simularly pierced and engraved balance cock to the cylinder escapement, going barrel for the going train with smaller barrel for quarter strike on two bells, in a drum-shaped case with hinged and beaded bezel and urn finial, supported by four dolphins on a shell and foliage fountain, flanked by a pair of swans, the oval base with pierced gallery and channelled scrolled volutes, on a stepped oval plinth base, the dial cracked, with modern winder
15 in. (38 cm.) high; 6 in. (17 cm.) wide; 5 in. (12.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Lady Baron, sold Sotheby's London, 30 January 1964, lot 39.

Lot Essay

James Tregent was said by Baillie to be of French extraction and is first recorded in 1759. He was admitted Honorary Freeman of the Clockmaker's Company in 1781 and died in 1808. He was at 35 Strand in 1775 and moved to 29 Cranbourne Street, off Leicester Square, in 1780 (C. Jagger, Royal Clocks, London, 1983, p. 216).
Bertha, Lady Baron, of 80 Eaton Square, London, was the widow of Sir Edward Baron (1892-1962), Chairman of Carreras Ltd.
The clock symbolises Love's triumph with its sacred urn supported by Venus' embowed dolphins on a scallop-shell fountain.

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