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Lot Essay
The remarkable case and wall bracket for the present lot can be compared to contemporary furniture that was being made in the workshops of Frederick Hintz and Abraham Roentgen in the 1730s. Brass-inlaid furniture, using padouk wood in particular, had become highly fashionable. John Channon (d. 1779), is perhaps the most reknown furniture maker of the period noted for making pieces with intricate brass inlay. His work is epitomised by a monumental pair of brass-inlaid padouk bookcases signed by him and made for Powderham Castle, Devon in 1740.
The largest section of brass-inlaid furniture from this period is represented by tripod tables, of which over 34 are now recorded; their most likely purpose would seem to have been as tea tables. These tables share many idiosyncratic qualities, such as the very similar styles of the brass-inlay often often incorporating mother-of-pearl. These similarities are enough to suggest that they were all produced out of the same workshop. One of these pieces, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is known to have come from the workshops of Frederick Hintz of Leicester Fields who was part of London's Moravian Brotherhood. In 1738 he placed an advertisement announcing the sale of A choice parcel of Desks, Bookcases of Mahogany, Tea-Tables, Tea-Chests etc all curiously made and inlaid with fine figures of Brass and Mother-of-Pearl.
The case and wall bracket of the present clock bear close resemblance to the tea table and chests being produced by these workshops and it would seem likely that the clock formed part of a 'suite' of similarly inlaid furniture made for a particular discerning client.
The largest section of brass-inlaid furniture from this period is represented by tripod tables, of which over 34 are now recorded; their most likely purpose would seem to have been as tea tables. These tables share many idiosyncratic qualities, such as the very similar styles of the brass-inlay often often incorporating mother-of-pearl. These similarities are enough to suggest that they were all produced out of the same workshop. One of these pieces, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is known to have come from the workshops of Frederick Hintz of Leicester Fields who was part of London's Moravian Brotherhood. In 1738 he placed an advertisement announcing the sale of A choice parcel of Desks, Bookcases of Mahogany, Tea-Tables, Tea-Chests etc all curiously made and inlaid with fine figures of Brass and Mother-of-Pearl.
The case and wall bracket of the present clock bear close resemblance to the tea table and chests being produced by these workshops and it would seem likely that the clock formed part of a 'suite' of similarly inlaid furniture made for a particular discerning client.