DANIEL QUARE, LONDON, CIRCA 1700

Details

A William III ebony striking bracket clock
Daniel Quare, London, circa 1700
The case with Quare's typical double-S handle to a cushion-moulded top, the glazed sides with later pierced wood sound frets, similar fret to the front door with gilt-metal escutcheons, the moulded base on brass bun feet, the 6½ x 7 in. dial signed Danl: Quare London within a foliate engraved bracket above the silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with typical finely pierced blued steel hands, the finely matted centre with ringed winding holes and roundel-decorated calendar and mock pendulum apertures, winged cherub spandrels, the typically robust six pillar twin chain fusee movement with verge escapement, pull quarter repeat on four bells with hour strike on further bell, later Webster-type backcock to the backplate finely engraved with formalised scrolling foliage with a central cartouche engraved Daniel Quare Londini, pendulum holdfast to the left side
14¾ in. (38 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Daniel Quare, 1647-1724, was one of the greatest clockmakers of the 'golden era'. A Quaker by religion he is recorded as resisting various minor laws such as refusing to pay a rate for the maintenance of the Clergy and for refusing to pay charges towards the up-keep of the militia. Despite these minor indiscretions a picture emerges of a man full of character and with a shrewed business mind. His success is often compared to to the quality of the guests at his daughter's wedding who included such dignitaries as the Envoys from Florence, Hanover and Prussia, the Earl of Orrery, the Duke of Argyll and the Duchess of Marlborough, not to mention the Prince of Wales.
Quare's work is often found to be erratic in quality. The present clock is one of the very best examples of one of his standard bracket clocks. The backplate has been engraved by one of the leading engravers of the period who's services were also being employed by Thomas Tompion.

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