JOHN MARRIOTT, LONDON. CIRCA 1780

John Marriott of Fetter Lane (later Fleet Street), London, was apprenticed in 1755 and Free of the Clockmakers' Company from 1768 until his death in 1824. A musical automaton table clock by him was sold anonymously, Christie's London, 20 February 2008, lot 90 (£48,500). An elaborate musical and automaton clock by Marriott is in the Palace Museum, Beijing.
An unsigned George III brass-mounted tortoiseshell musical and automaton table clock of closely related design is also in the Palace Museum and is illustrated, Liao Pin ed., Clocks and Watches of the Qing Dynasty, From the Collection in the Forbidden City, Beijing, 2002, p. 164.
The case design of the present clock, with its distinctive cavo-convex pediment and gently bombé sides, was a popular design used for musical and automaton clocks by a number of English makers, Francis Perigal among them. See, for example, an ebony musical clock sold anonymously, Christie's London, 2 July 2004, lot 74. It was also copied by contemporary Chinese makers and its influence may be seen on a Chinese ormolu musical and automaton table clock which sold anonymously, Christie's London, 22 January 2009, lot 160. See also a small Chinese musical and automaton clock in the present sale (lot 39).