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Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
A clock of closely related design, with comparable ebonised base and with engraved chapters, is illustrated in Derek Roberts, British Skeleton Clocks, Antique Collectors' Club, 1987, p.219, pl.37, fig.
With its beautifully engraved plates and chains descending to the base this exceptional skeleton clock is as attractive viewed from the rear as from the front, unlike the majority of skeleton clocks of the period. It is likely therefore that it was made as a centrepiece clock resting on a floor-standing plinth rather than on a mantel piece. The indirect winding system is particularly ingenious and it obviates the need to remove the glass dome, with all the risk this entails. As Derek Roberts notes (op. cit, p.223) very few musical skeleton clocks were made, both because of the high cost of manufacture and also because the large number of components required acted against the concept of 'skeletonising'. The maker of the present clock has resolved this issue by placing the music work in the plinth and also by positioning the quarter bells face on so that they are less visible.
Although it seems strange that such a masterful example of the clockmaker's art should remain unsigned by the maker it is by no means unusual. By this period in English clockmaking retailers had achieved pre-eminence over makers and often required clocks to be unsigned so that they could put either their own name or a presentation plaque on them. On the present clock the retailer has discreetly signed on the dial.
The present dome has unfortunately sustained numerous cracks, the side effects of a doodlebug rocket in World War II.
A clock of closely related design, with comparable ebonised base and with engraved chapters, is illustrated in Derek Roberts, British Skeleton Clocks, Antique Collectors' Club, 1987, p.219, pl.37, fig.
With its beautifully engraved plates and chains descending to the base this exceptional skeleton clock is as attractive viewed from the rear as from the front, unlike the majority of skeleton clocks of the period. It is likely therefore that it was made as a centrepiece clock resting on a floor-standing plinth rather than on a mantel piece. The indirect winding system is particularly ingenious and it obviates the need to remove the glass dome, with all the risk this entails. As Derek Roberts notes (op. cit, p.223) very few musical skeleton clocks were made, both because of the high cost of manufacture and also because the large number of components required acted against the concept of 'skeletonising'. The maker of the present clock has resolved this issue by placing the music work in the plinth and also by positioning the quarter bells face on so that they are less visible.
Although it seems strange that such a masterful example of the clockmaker's art should remain unsigned by the maker it is by no means unusual. By this period in English clockmaking retailers had achieved pre-eminence over makers and often required clocks to be unsigned so that they could put either their own name or a presentation plaque on them. On the present clock the retailer has discreetly signed on the dial.
The present dome has unfortunately sustained numerous cracks, the side effects of a doodlebug rocket in World War II.