Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Eric Bruton, The Wetherfield Collection of Clocks, NAG Press, 1981.
P.G. Dawson, C.B. Drover & D.W. Parkes, Early English Clocks, Woodbridge, 1982.
Percy Dawson, The Iden Clock Collection, Woodbridge, 1987.
The four subsidiary dials on the present clock are an unusual feature and appear to have been reserved for Quare's more important clocks. There are examples in both the Iden (p. 128) and Wetherfield (p. 96, also Dawson, Drover and Parkes, p. 477, plate 705). Although similar in their design, not all subsidiaries perform the same function on each clock. For example, the clock illustrated in the Iden collection differs from the present clock in having the upper subsidiaries perform regulation and repeat/not repeat, the lower right subsidiary strike/silent and only the lower left operating the pendulum locking system. A Quare table clock of almost identical design (but with a date aperture) sold anonymously, Sotheby's, London 9 December 1968, lot 193 (£3,800).
A three train example is illustrated on the front cover of Antiquarian Horology, No. 2, Vol. 2, June 1959. The most recent Quare table clock with four subsidiaries to appear at auction had an inverted bell top case and was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 11 December 2002, lot 76 (£77,675).
It is also interesting to compare this design with a Fromanteel gilt-brass mounted tortoiseshell grande sonnerie table clock dating from circa 1695 which is illustrated on the front cover of the Iden collection and illustrated p.48.
Daniel Quare (c.1649-1724) became one of the most illustrious clockmakers of England's golden age of horology. The earliest record of him is his appearance in the minutes of a Clockmakers' Company Quarter Court on 3 April 1671, when he was admitted as a Brother of the Company. In 1698, Quare was selected as a member of the Court of Assistants of the Clockmakers' Company. In 1705 he was made Junior Warden and he subsequently rose through the ranks to become Master in 1708.
George I offered Quare the post of King's Watchmaker for £300 per year. However, being a Quaker by religion he was unable to swear the necessary Oath of Allegiance. Even so, the King allowed him free access to the Palace at any time.
In 1701 Quare took his former apprentice, Stephen Horseman, into partnership and towards the end retired to Croydon, where he died in 1724.
See also lot 31
Eric Bruton, The Wetherfield Collection of Clocks, NAG Press, 1981.
P.G. Dawson, C.B. Drover & D.W. Parkes, Early English Clocks, Woodbridge, 1982.
Percy Dawson, The Iden Clock Collection, Woodbridge, 1987.
The four subsidiary dials on the present clock are an unusual feature and appear to have been reserved for Quare's more important clocks. There are examples in both the Iden (p. 128) and Wetherfield (p. 96, also Dawson, Drover and Parkes, p. 477, plate 705). Although similar in their design, not all subsidiaries perform the same function on each clock. For example, the clock illustrated in the Iden collection differs from the present clock in having the upper subsidiaries perform regulation and repeat/not repeat, the lower right subsidiary strike/silent and only the lower left operating the pendulum locking system. A Quare table clock of almost identical design (but with a date aperture) sold anonymously, Sotheby's, London 9 December 1968, lot 193 (£3,800).
A three train example is illustrated on the front cover of Antiquarian Horology, No. 2, Vol. 2, June 1959. The most recent Quare table clock with four subsidiaries to appear at auction had an inverted bell top case and was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 11 December 2002, lot 76 (£77,675).
It is also interesting to compare this design with a Fromanteel gilt-brass mounted tortoiseshell grande sonnerie table clock dating from circa 1695 which is illustrated on the front cover of the Iden collection and illustrated p.48.
Daniel Quare (c.1649-1724) became one of the most illustrious clockmakers of England's golden age of horology. The earliest record of him is his appearance in the minutes of a Clockmakers' Company Quarter Court on 3 April 1671, when he was admitted as a Brother of the Company. In 1698, Quare was selected as a member of the Court of Assistants of the Clockmakers' Company. In 1705 he was made Junior Warden and he subsequently rose through the ranks to become Master in 1708.
George I offered Quare the post of King's Watchmaker for £300 per year. However, being a Quaker by religion he was unable to swear the necessary Oath of Allegiance. Even so, the King allowed him free access to the Palace at any time.
In 1701 Quare took his former apprentice, Stephen Horseman, into partnership and towards the end retired to Croydon, where he died in 1724.
See also lot 31