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拍品專文
Daniel Quare of London was born circa 1647/48 in Somerset. He became a brother in the Clockmaker's Company in 1671 (described as a 'Great Clockmaker'), Assistant in 1700, Warden from 1705, Master in 1708 and attended until his death in 1724.
One of England's greatest clockmakers from the 'golden age' of English clockmaking, Quare was a Quaker. Consequently he was unable to swear oaths and would have been Royal Clockmaker but for his inability to swear the necessary Oath of Allegiance. Even so he had free access to the Palace by the back stairs.
Quare was undoubtedly an acute businessman and highly successful. The measure of his success may be seen from the list of guests at his daughter Ann's wedding in 1705, which included the Envoys from Florence, Hanover, Venice, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Prussia. The weddings of a further son and daughter in 1712 added to the list the Earl of Orrery, the Duke of Argyll and other noble dignitaries, whilst in 1715 the Prince and Princess of Wales only failed to attend his daughter Elizabeth's wedding because of an Act of Parliament forbidding them from attending Quaker meetings - nonetheless the Princess attended the wedding banquet. For a fuller account of Quare's career see Cedric Jagger, Royal Clocks, London, 1983, pp.46-49.
THE CLOCK-CASE ORNAMENT
The richly decorated late 17th Century clock-case, with its flowered tablets and ebony-black Solomonic columns, derives from the Louis Quatorze 'Roman' style, that was later popularised by the Nouveaux Livre de Boites de Pendulles, and the Second Livre d'Orlogeries, which were both issued around 1706 by the French-born architect Daniel Marot (d. 1752), self-styled 'Architect' to William III. The clock-face is embellished with triumphal bas reliefs of cupid wreathed in palm-flowered cartouches of Roman foliage; while a trophy on the temple-pedimented case celebrates divine Love with the 'shell' badge of the nature deity Venus and a golden sun-enriched obelisk. The golden sphere of the clock-pendulum is revealed by a medallioned 'lenticle' in the shell-parquetried pedestal, which is mosaiced with floral marquetry inlaid in triumphal-arched tablets. These festive trompe l'oeil 'paintings in wood' celebrate 'Peace and Plenty' and incorporate richly plumed birds with reed-wrapped krater-vases, evoking the Arcadian deity Pan. They derive in particular from the engraved 'Oeuvres' of French artists such as Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (d. 1699). Such cupid-attended vases served an important architectural role in enlivening rooms, and were the subject of Marot's Nouveaux Livre de Tableau de Portes et Cheminee utiles aux Peintres en fleurs, c. 1708.
The most celebrated exponent of flowered 'Netherlandish' furniture, was the Amsterdam ébéniste Jan Van Mekeren (d. 1733), who crafted a magnificent floral cabinet at Belton House, Lincolnshire. At Burghley House, Lincolnshire there is another related masterpiece, which also features ivory-white jasmine overflowing from Pan-headed krater-vases, as well as arch-headed floral tablets inlaid in oyster-shell parquetry. However the latter has been attributed to a London craftsman, working in the manner of Van Mekeren.
It is possible this clock-case was supplied from the workshops of the court cabinet-maker Gerrit Jensen (d. 1715), but crafted by Dutch journeymen (Reinier Baarsen, 'Mix and Match Marquetry', Country Life, 13 October, 1988, pp. 224-227, figs. 5 and 1).
A closely related case accompanies another of Daniel Quare's clocks, illustrated in P.G. Dawson, The Iden Clock Collection, Woodbridge, 1987, vol. II, no. 38, p.106. Another was sold from the A. S. Vernay sale, New York, 1940, no. 54. A similar clock, with movement by Knibb, was sold from the Haas collection, Christie's New York, 13 October 1995, lot 371 ($55,200).
One of England's greatest clockmakers from the 'golden age' of English clockmaking, Quare was a Quaker. Consequently he was unable to swear oaths and would have been Royal Clockmaker but for his inability to swear the necessary Oath of Allegiance. Even so he had free access to the Palace by the back stairs.
Quare was undoubtedly an acute businessman and highly successful. The measure of his success may be seen from the list of guests at his daughter Ann's wedding in 1705, which included the Envoys from Florence, Hanover, Venice, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Prussia. The weddings of a further son and daughter in 1712 added to the list the Earl of Orrery, the Duke of Argyll and other noble dignitaries, whilst in 1715 the Prince and Princess of Wales only failed to attend his daughter Elizabeth's wedding because of an Act of Parliament forbidding them from attending Quaker meetings - nonetheless the Princess attended the wedding banquet. For a fuller account of Quare's career see Cedric Jagger, Royal Clocks, London, 1983, pp.46-49.
THE CLOCK-CASE ORNAMENT
The richly decorated late 17th Century clock-case, with its flowered tablets and ebony-black Solomonic columns, derives from the Louis Quatorze 'Roman' style, that was later popularised by the Nouveaux Livre de Boites de Pendulles, and the Second Livre d'Orlogeries, which were both issued around 1706 by the French-born architect Daniel Marot (d. 1752), self-styled 'Architect' to William III. The clock-face is embellished with triumphal bas reliefs of cupid wreathed in palm-flowered cartouches of Roman foliage; while a trophy on the temple-pedimented case celebrates divine Love with the 'shell' badge of the nature deity Venus and a golden sun-enriched obelisk. The golden sphere of the clock-pendulum is revealed by a medallioned 'lenticle' in the shell-parquetried pedestal, which is mosaiced with floral marquetry inlaid in triumphal-arched tablets. These festive trompe l'oeil 'paintings in wood' celebrate 'Peace and Plenty' and incorporate richly plumed birds with reed-wrapped krater-vases, evoking the Arcadian deity Pan. They derive in particular from the engraved 'Oeuvres' of French artists such as Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (d. 1699). Such cupid-attended vases served an important architectural role in enlivening rooms, and were the subject of Marot's Nouveaux Livre de Tableau de Portes et Cheminee utiles aux Peintres en fleurs, c. 1708.
The most celebrated exponent of flowered 'Netherlandish' furniture, was the Amsterdam ébéniste Jan Van Mekeren (d. 1733), who crafted a magnificent floral cabinet at Belton House, Lincolnshire. At Burghley House, Lincolnshire there is another related masterpiece, which also features ivory-white jasmine overflowing from Pan-headed krater-vases, as well as arch-headed floral tablets inlaid in oyster-shell parquetry. However the latter has been attributed to a London craftsman, working in the manner of Van Mekeren.
It is possible this clock-case was supplied from the workshops of the court cabinet-maker Gerrit Jensen (d. 1715), but crafted by Dutch journeymen (Reinier Baarsen, 'Mix and Match Marquetry', Country Life, 13 October, 1988, pp. 224-227, figs. 5 and 1).
A closely related case accompanies another of Daniel Quare's clocks, illustrated in P.G. Dawson, The Iden Clock Collection, Woodbridge, 1987, vol. II, no. 38, p.106. Another was sold from the A. S. Vernay sale, New York, 1940, no. 54. A similar clock, with movement by Knibb, was sold from the Haas collection, Christie's New York, 13 October 1995, lot 371 ($55,200).