CHRISTOPHER GOULD, LONDON. CIRCA 1710

Details

A Queen Anne ebony large striking table clock
Christopher Gould, London. Circa 1710
The case with crown-and-caryatid handle to the inverted bell top with later faceted bud finials, glazed sides with foliate cast handles, foliate cast gilt-metal mounts to the front door, the moulded base with later skirting and later brass bun feet, the 8½in. square gilt-brass dial signed Chr Gould London on a curved silvered background to the mock pendulum aperture in the matted centre with ringed winding holes and calendar aperture, silvered chapter ring with pierced blued steel hands (hour hand with restoration), the dial border finely engraved with profuse foliate engraving and with winged cherub spandrels, the movement with thick brass plates secured by six large ringed pillars, knife-edge verge escapement with later Webster-style backcock, twin gut fusees, the spring barrels with external blued steel and brass ratchet-and-clicks planted on the backplate, internal rack strike on a large bell above the plates, the back plate signed Chr Gould LONDON within profuse foliate engraving
17in. (43cm.) high

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Gould, Christopher. An exceptional clockmaker. Made Free Brother in the Clockmakers' Company in April 1682. He was made a Beadle in September 1713 (a post given to impoverished clockmakers) and received charity from the Company from then until his death in 1718. An inverted bell top bracket clock by Gould is illustrated in Richard Barder The Georgian Bracket Clock 1714-1830, Antique Collectors' Club, 1993, p.28, plate I/8. It is surprising that a prolific maker with an illustrious reputation died in penury.
Gould's work may be compared to Charles Gretton (ref. lot 70) whose clockwork was always of the best quality. Their movements had thick brass plates and robust pillars and always appear to be filled to overflowing with complicated wheelwork.

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