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Lot Essay
Norton, Eardley, London, 49 St John Street, Clerkenwell. Recorded 1762, free of the Clockmakers' Company 1770-1794. In 1771 he patented (Pat. No. 987) 'a clock which strikes the hours and parts upon a principle entirely new; and a watch which repeats the hours and parts, so concisely contrived as of being conveniently contained not only in a watch but also in its appendage...' (see Britten's Old Clocks and Watches and Their makers, London, 1956, p.446).
A fine maker, Norton is famous for his musical and astronomical clocks. A superb four dial astronomical clock by him is in the Royal Collection (see Cedric Jagger Royal Clocks, London, 1983, Figs.151-152). A musical clock by him also adorns the front dust jacket of Richard C R Barder's The Georgian Bracket Clock 1714-1830, Antique Collectors' Club, 1993.
Although not perhaps as celebrated as the Turkish and Chinese markets the European export market was a valuable one for London makers. Unlike clocks for the 'exotic' markets (see, for example, lot 39) those for the Spanish market made few concessions to local tastes. On the present example it is only the subsidiary dials which point to the intended buyer. Some makers found it politic to Hispanicize their names (David Higgs becoming Diego Evans) but many clocks remain indistinguishable from their London counterparts. Of the various English bracket and longcase clocks in the present Spanish Royal collection few use Spanish on the dial (see Catalogo de Relojes del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1987, pp.32-52). Interestingly, the collection has no less than ten quarter-chiming bracket clocks by John Taylor of London which suggests that in common with other export markets this was a particularly sought after feature. A four-train musical example with all Spanish inscriptions is illustrated in Barder (op.cit, p.156).
Many Spanish market clocks would have been re-exported to the country's colonies and it is interesting to note that the present example was until recently in South America.
A fine maker, Norton is famous for his musical and astronomical clocks. A superb four dial astronomical clock by him is in the Royal Collection (see Cedric Jagger Royal Clocks, London, 1983, Figs.151-152). A musical clock by him also adorns the front dust jacket of Richard C R Barder's The Georgian Bracket Clock 1714-1830, Antique Collectors' Club, 1993.
Although not perhaps as celebrated as the Turkish and Chinese markets the European export market was a valuable one for London makers. Unlike clocks for the 'exotic' markets (see, for example, lot 39) those for the Spanish market made few concessions to local tastes. On the present example it is only the subsidiary dials which point to the intended buyer. Some makers found it politic to Hispanicize their names (David Higgs becoming Diego Evans) but many clocks remain indistinguishable from their London counterparts. Of the various English bracket and longcase clocks in the present Spanish Royal collection few use Spanish on the dial (see Catalogo de Relojes del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1987, pp.32-52). Interestingly, the collection has no less than ten quarter-chiming bracket clocks by John Taylor of London which suggests that in common with other export markets this was a particularly sought after feature. A four-train musical example with all Spanish inscriptions is illustrated in Barder (op.cit, p.156).
Many Spanish market clocks would have been re-exported to the country's colonies and it is interesting to note that the present example was until recently in South America.