.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The magnificent mirror 'glass' clock-case with its triumphal-arched dome and crystal spheres crowned by Eternity's obelisk is a particularly splendid example, and an appropriate furnishing to enlighten a window-pier. A small group of clock cases feature similar mirrored case doors, a very unusual feature that indicates the high value placed on this piece as mirror plates were an expensive commodity in the eighteenth century. A related japanned case with mirror 'glass' door was formerly in the collection of the 7th Viscount Gort, Co.Durham and offered Sotheby's New York, 16 October 1993, lot 57. A walnut clock with similarly mirrored door and movement by Langley Bradley is at the Admiralty, Whitehall and is illustrated in R. Edwards, ed., The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, 1964, p. 232, fig.22. Another signed Charles Clay of the Strand was sold at Banks Hall by Henry Spencer & Sons, 16 September 1965, lot 505. A further example by the pre-eminent clockmaker Ellicott was sold by Christie's London, 12 December 2001, lot 185.
Henry Thornton was admitted to the clockmakers company in 1699 and worked until 1732. He made clocks and watches for the Czar of Russia. Chiming clocks by Thornton are in the collection at the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg and the Troitsa Monastery, near Moscow.
Henry Thornton was admitted to the clockmakers company in 1699 and worked until 1732. He made clocks and watches for the Czar of Russia. Chiming clocks by Thornton are in the collection at the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg and the Troitsa Monastery, near Moscow.