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A George III tortoiseshell and brass-mounted striking and automaton table clock with pull quarter repeat

CHRISTOPHER PINCHBECK SENIOR, LONDON. CIRCA 1770 AND LATER

Details

A George III tortoiseshell and brass-mounted striking and automaton table clock with pull quarter repeat
Christopher Pinchbeck Senior, London. Circa 1770 and later
The case later veneered in tortoiseshell and with brass handle to inverted bell top, with tall arched glass side panels (replaced) and brass-lined fiddle-shaped front door, gilt-metal spandrels above, on later gilt-brass feet, the fiddle-shaped painted brass dial decorated with seasonal spandrels en grisaille, silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, the matted centre with recessed silvered signature plaque signed (to both sides) Pinchbeck Sen.r/LONDON, date aperture below, blued steel hands, with strike/silent lever above 60, the arch with painted scene of a domestic interior with automaton figures, a man to one side seated and raising a flask to his mouth, a woman to the other side churning butter, a fireplace between them flickering to the beat of the pendulum, the five pillar movement with reconverted verge escapement with pierced later backcock, twin line and fusees, hour strike on bell and pull quarter repeat on six bells, the automaton figures moving on the hour, the back plate with scored line border and elaborately engraved with foliate scrolls and masks; the automaton work altered
19¾ in. (50 cm.) high, handle down

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

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Richard C.R. Barder, The Georgian Bracket Clock 1714-1830, London, 1993, p.61, pl.II/43
Barder shows an automaton table clock by Stephen Rimbault with comparable fiddle-shaped dial. An ebonised table clock of very closely related design by Pinchbeck Senior (with different automaton scene) was sold Sotheby's New York, Masterpieces from the Time Museum, Part Four, Vol.I, 13 October 2004, lot 550.

Christopher Pinchbeck II (1710-1783) was the son of the clcokmaker and inventor Christopher Pinchbeck who invented 'Pinchbeck Gold'. Christopher II was clockmaker to the King and referred to himself as 'Senior'. He left his father's Fleet Street shop in 1738 and for a short time was in Edinburgh (1745). He was Free of the Clockmakers' Company 1781-1783. See Brian Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, London, 2006.

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