VULLIAMY, LONDON, NO. 702. CIRCA 1820

The distinctive architectural style of this longcase clock was very much favoured by the eminent Vulliamy family of clockmakers. It may be seen on clocks by the patriarch of the family, Justin Vulliamy (1712-1797) from circa 1770. See for example, D. Roberts British Longcase Clocks, Pennsylvania, 1990, p. 158, fig. 207 and a clock sold in these rooms from the collection of Professor E. T. Hall, 11 July 2003, lot 144 (£38,240). Similar designs were used for Vulliamy regulators, such as No. 330 in the Royal Collection (see C. Jagger, Royal Clocks, London, 1983, p. 114, fig. 157) and No. 220, sold Bonhams, London, 9 December 2008, lot 125 (£120,000). The stop-fluted brass columns of the present clock may also be seen on Justin Vulliamy's standard clock at Windsor Castle (Jagger, p. 207, fig. 273), which has an enamel chapter disc and on a longcase very similar to this example sold by Woolley and Wallis, Salisbury, 11 March 2009 (£40,000). This clock can be dated to circa 1820 from its number (702), using the graph published by Roger Smith in his article 'Vulliamy Clock Numbering: A Dated Series', Antiquarian Horology, No. 6, Vol. 19, 1991, pp. 620-625. At this time the business was being run by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854). Unusually among clockmakers the Vulliamys numbered most of the clocks they made, openly doing so from 1788 until 1854, when the firm closed. Many of their original workbooks are still extant at Upton Hall; regrettably the one covering No. 702 has been lost.