EDWARD EAST, LONDON. CIRCA 1665/70

Details

A rare Charles II ebonised pearwood architectural longcase clock
Edward East, London. Circa 1665/70
CASE: of small size, typical for the period. Rising hood of architectural form and with fine mouldings to the triangular pediment. The tympanum centred by a relief cast brass mount, showing with figures emblematic of Hunting; Diana and Apollo(?), each with dogs and hawks and flanking a breastplate. The top of the arch centred by a small spike for former finial, with evidence of further finals having been in place to the sides. To the rear sides of the hood there are shadows for previous columns, now removed. The top of the trunk with convex throat mouldings; those to the sides have been replaced, quite possibly in the 18th Century. The top of the hood behind the pediment would probably have been flat originally and has been covered by a later arched section of wood. The rear hood runners are replacements, as is the blued steel lock for holding the raised hood; the latter incorporates original elements. Some replacement of facing veneers to the hood glasses (apertures not altered). The original iron hood lock remains in place. The sides of the trunk with long panels bordered by well modelled mouldings; the trunk door with panel to match these and also two finely raised panels. The brass escutcheon is probably original; the lock replaced. The door with original wrought iron hinges. The facings to front and sides of the plinth, along with the skirting, have been replaced. However, the carcase below is original and evidence remains of where the original bun feet were positioned. The backboard is in two sections and, at the top, unusually extends above the sides of the triangular hood (not beyond its apex). Case key.
73 5/8 in. (187 cm.) high, 12 in. (30.5 cm.) wide, 7½ in. (19 cm.) deep
DIAL: of gilded brass, 8 3/16 wide by 8¼ in. high. Corners finely engraved with flowers, pears and ribbons. Signed Edwardus East/Londini in the lower corners. Silvered and engraved chapter ring (7/8 in. wide) with narrow minute track and trident half hour markers. Centre of the dial finely matted. The hands original, being well sculpted blued steel. Their brass collet also probably original. The winding holes are shuttered.
MOVEMENT: with rectangular plates and dial feet latched to the front plate. The six movement pillars each with four rings and also latched. The lower two pillars threaded and secured to blocks on the seatboard. The seatboard is a replacement (thinner than the original). The movement of eight day duration and with hourly strike via a countwheel positioned on the back plate. The bell positioned vertically in the style of the period. The escapement is verge; its escape wheel, contrate wheel and pinions are replacements, as are the verge arbor and rod (the latter may well retain its original bob). However, there is no evidence of previous conversion. The backcock original but possibly embellished later. The movement with original bolt and shutter maintaining power. Two brass-cased weights with curved bottoms and flat tops, quite probably original. The pulleys matching and original. The crank key (probably original) has a pear-shaped lignum vitae handle, steel shaft and brass winding section.
Further images of this clock can be emailed upon request. Please refer to department.

Provenance

Michael Ingram (1917-2005) ran a small engineering company. He was the great grandson of Herbert Ingram (1811-1860), founder of the Illustrated London News. A collector of drawings and watercolours from the age of 21, Michael Ingram built up a fine collection which was sold at Sotheby's London in December 2005. He was also related to two renowned collectors and it is likely that he received the East from one of them. He was the son of Sir Herbert Ingram, a connoisseur of Chinese porcelain, whose collection was given to the Ashmolean Museum in the 1950s, a significant gift that ensured its collection of celadon greenwares is unrivalled outside China. His uncle, Sir Bruce Ingram (1877-1963), was editor of the Illustrated London News for 63 years and a passionate collector of British and Old Master paintings and drawings, with a particular interest in maritime art. His collection of 700 drawings by Willem van de Velde the Elder and Younger was given to the National Maritime Museum in 1957.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

EDWARD EAST:
Born in 1602, East was one of the greatest English clockmakers of the 17th Century. One of the first Assistants in the Clockmakers' Company after its formation in 1631, he was Master of the Company in 1645 and again in 1653. Upon the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 East was appointed clockmaker to the King. A Royalist and most likely a Catholic also, he must have been a very different character to his closest business rivals, Ahasuerus and John Fromanteel, Anabaptists with Parliamentarian leanings. East lived until 1697 and clearly prospered, giving £100 to the Clockmakers' Company for the benefit of poorer members shortly before he died.

THE PRESENT CLOCK:
This clock is a remarkably intact survival of early English clockmaking by one of the most important makers of the 17th Century and displays a number of noteworthy features.
The exquisite dial engraving, in a style fashionable for the period, can be seen on other examples by East. See Edwardes (pl.137) and the British Clockmaker's Makers Heritage Exhibition catalogue (p.X) for architectural longcases of closely related design and with similar dial engraving. Symonds (Masterpieces, fig.109) and Britten's (p.99) show East wall clocks with similar engraving and Cescinsky (p.32) shows a longcase dial. Other makers also used pear engraving. See for example the Joseph Knibb night timepiece illustrated in Dawson, Drover & Parkes (pp.516-517).
The projecting backboard on the present clock, although unusual, is by no means unknown. Lee (The First Twelve Years, pl.20) shows a longcase by Ahasuerus Fromanteel which shows this feature. It can be seen again on an unsigned longcase, attributed to Fromanteel and closely resembling the Lee example, sold Christie's London, Clocks and Watches, 12 December 1988, lot 166.
The hood mount on this East longcase is unusual and distinctive and we are not aware of a comparable example on another clock. The symbolism may point to a client with an interest in hunting. The decorative focus remains resolutely on this area (notwithstanding the now absent finials). The hood columns are unadorned. In this they may be compared with other East longcases at Belmont House in Kent and in the Terry Collection in Fairfax House York. These examples have spiral-twist columns.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Dawson, Drover & Parkes, Early English Clocks, Antique Collectors' Club 1982, pp.164-172, p.193; Ernest L. Edwardes, The Grandfather Clock, Sherratt & Son 1974, pls.137-139; RW Symonds, A Book of English Clocks, King Penguin 1947, p.22, pp.24-26; Exhibition Catalogue, Horological Masterworks, The Antiquarian Horological Society 2003, pp.38-39 & pp.42-43; Baillie, Clutton & Ilbert, Britten's Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers, Seventh Edition, E & FN Spon, 1956, pp.99-100; Herbert Cescinsky, The Old English Master Clockmakers and their Clocks 1670-1820, Routledge & Sons, 1938, p.24 & pp.47-52; Derek Roberts, British Longcase Clocks, Schiffer 1990, pp.24-25.; Tom Robinson, The Longcase Clock, Antique Collectors' Club 1981, p.34; Ronald A Lee, The First Twelve Years of the English Pendulum Clock, Exhibition Catalogue 1969, pls.4-7, 17-20, 25-30, 42-43, 67-68, 75; RW Symonds, Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks, Batsford 1940, p.149; Ronald A Lee, The Knibb Family Clockmakers, Manor House Press 1963, pp.24-25; Percy G. Dawson, The Iden Clock Collection, Antique Collectors' Club 1987, pp.19-40; Science Museum, British Clockmaker's Heritage Exhibition, 1952, exhibit 76 (pp.37 & X); The Noel Terry Collection of Furniture and Clocks, York Civic Trust 1987.

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