This clock was designed and manufactured by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854) for sale in his Pall Mall show rooms between June 1820 and January 1821. Its plinth, in the form of a Pompeian domestic altar (arula) with Ionic volute pillar, was supplied by Mr Day at the cost of #5/6/7; its ormolu was cast by Mr Barnett (4/1), chased by Mr Weston (7/-) and gilded by Mr Seagram (#1/8/-); its dial, prepared by Mr Harrison (3/-), was engraved by Mr Davis (18/-); while Mr Turner (5/-) and Mr Buster (15/-) assisted with the mounting. Mr Thorpe supplied a 'blown glass shade' (14/-), which is now missing. The total manufacturing costs, which included cleaning and examination at Pall Mall by Mr Thompson in January 1823 amounted to #16/1/5, and it was sold for 16 guineas (/0) on the 26th January of that year. This information and that on the purchaser is contained in the second Vulliamy Clock Book detailing the firm's dealings from c.1820-1830, now held by the British Horological Institute

Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, who inherited his father Benjamin Vulliamy's business in 1820, was appointed clock-maker to the King George III and became master of the Clockmaker's Company the following year. Nelson's success at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 promoted 'Egyptomania' and the furnishing style was popularised by Thomas Sheraton, The Cabinet Dictionary, London, 1803 and Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807. Here the Egyptian snake bezel has been applied to the French style 'Grecian cippus' clock manufactured by Benjamin Vulliamy since the late 1790s

We are grateful to the British Horological Institute and Jonathan Betts Esq. for their help in preparing this catalogue entry