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Lot Essay
James Markwick Senior was apprenticed in June 1656 to Edward Gilpin who was made Free in 1632 through the Leathersellers' Company.
Markham was Free in 1666 (the year of the Great Fire) and he appears to have worked partly for himself but also for Edward Gilpin. In 1673 he succeeded Mr. Samuel Betts deceased at the Back of Royal Exchange as Steward of the Clockmakers' Company. In September 1677 the Company records show that Markwick was fined for abuse of the Master at the Steward's Feast. In May 1686 he refused to pay a fine for absence from the Court and he left it ...in a abrupt and angry manner. He became Assistant in 1862 but ceased to attend Court after 1700. His son James Junior was made Free by patrimony in 1698 and became Master in 1720, he later formed a partnership with Robert Markham, later to become famous for making musical and automaton clocks.
The present clock is a fine example of its type with a fully latched movement with no less than six pillars. The marquetry in the case has excellent definition - the faded colour, caused by being caught by the rising sun for too many years, can be brought back to its former glory in the hands of a good restorer.
Markham was Free in 1666 (the year of the Great Fire) and he appears to have worked partly for himself but also for Edward Gilpin. In 1673 he succeeded Mr. Samuel Betts deceased at the Back of Royal Exchange as Steward of the Clockmakers' Company. In September 1677 the Company records show that Markwick was fined for abuse of the Master at the Steward's Feast. In May 1686 he refused to pay a fine for absence from the Court and he left it ...in a abrupt and angry manner. He became Assistant in 1862 but ceased to attend Court after 1700. His son James Junior was made Free by patrimony in 1698 and became Master in 1720, he later formed a partnership with Robert Markham, later to become famous for making musical and automaton clocks.
The present clock is a fine example of its type with a fully latched movement with no less than six pillars. The marquetry in the case has excellent definition - the faded colour, caused by being caught by the rising sun for too many years, can be brought back to its former glory in the hands of a good restorer.