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Lot Essay
A walnut cased Scafe clock with a dial of closely related design was sold, the property of a lady, Christie's London, 6 December 2006, lot 113 (£45,600). A further comparable clock by John Topping, London was sold, Christie's London, 1 July 2008, lot 46 (£15,000).
Born in Yorkshire in 1687, Scafe (also Scaife) moved to London and worked At the Sign of the Clock in King Street, near Guildhall. He was Free of the Clockmakers' Company from 1721 to circa 1764 and in 1749 was Master. Britten quotes the Hon. B Fairfax as writing in 1727 of 'one William Scafe...now the most celebrated workman, perhaps in London and Europe'.
Although Scafe is a highly regarded maker, as Brian Loomes ('The Mystery of William Scaife', Clocks magazine, January 1988, pp.16-18) points out, for man whose career spanned 50 years remarkably few clocks by him are known.
Derek Roberts (British Longcase Clocks, Atglen, 1990, p.74), writes that during the 1720s and 1730s clocks showed much innovation in their design and construction. Many of the leading clockmakers vied with one another to produce more important clocks, spurred on no doubt by wealthy patrons who wished to be seen to have the finest available. Displaying the seconds in the arch is a rare feature and involves dramatically re-arranging the layout of the standard clock train.
There were a number of makers producing clocks with similar dial layouts, including Francis Gregg, John Ellicott, Richard Street, John Topping and John Hawting (see Tom Robinson, The Longcase Clock, Woodbridge, 1981, pp. 232-240, Derek Roberts, op. cit. pp. 74-75 and C. F. C. Beeson, 'A Clock by John Hawting', Antiquarian Horology, Vol. IV, December 1964, pp. 273-274 p. 273 for some examples). But one of the most successful and artistic of these was William Scafe.
Born in Yorkshire in 1687, Scafe (also Scaife) moved to London and worked At the Sign of the Clock in King Street, near Guildhall. He was Free of the Clockmakers' Company from 1721 to circa 1764 and in 1749 was Master. Britten quotes the Hon. B Fairfax as writing in 1727 of 'one William Scafe...now the most celebrated workman, perhaps in London and Europe'.
Although Scafe is a highly regarded maker, as Brian Loomes ('The Mystery of William Scaife', Clocks magazine, January 1988, pp.16-18) points out, for man whose career spanned 50 years remarkably few clocks by him are known.
Derek Roberts (British Longcase Clocks, Atglen, 1990, p.74), writes that during the 1720s and 1730s clocks showed much innovation in their design and construction. Many of the leading clockmakers vied with one another to produce more important clocks, spurred on no doubt by wealthy patrons who wished to be seen to have the finest available. Displaying the seconds in the arch is a rare feature and involves dramatically re-arranging the layout of the standard clock train.
There were a number of makers producing clocks with similar dial layouts, including Francis Gregg, John Ellicott, Richard Street, John Topping and John Hawting (see Tom Robinson, The Longcase Clock, Woodbridge, 1981, pp. 232-240, Derek Roberts, op. cit. pp. 74-75 and C. F. C. Beeson, 'A Clock by John Hawting', Antiquarian Horology, Vol. IV, December 1964, pp. 273-274 p. 273 for some examples). But one of the most successful and artistic of these was William Scafe.