A CHARLES II GRANDE SONNERIE STRIKING TABLE CLOCK

Details

THOMAS TAYLOR, LONDON, CIRCA 1680
A CHARLES II GRANDE SONNERIE STRIKING TABLE CLOCK
CASE: the domed top with loop handle and pierced mounts to front and sides, pierced sound fret above glazed door with Knibb style winged mask escutcheon and false escutcheon, glazed sides and rear door
DIAL: the 7 1⁄4 inch square dial plate with skeletonised silvered chapter ring with Roman hours and Arabic minutes '1-60', blued steel hands, the matted centre with date square below 'XII', cherub head spandrels to the angles, signed to the lower edge 'Tho= Taylor in Holborne'
MOVEMENT: the movement with ten latched vase-shaped pillars and split front plate, the eight-day grande sonnerie quarter striking movement striking 'double-six hours' on two bells, verge escapement, numbered countwheels for hours and quarters, bob pendulum and hold-fast, the backplate engraved with tulips and foliage signed 'Thomas Taylor in Holborne'
Ebonised wood and gilt-brass
13 3⁄4 in. (33.6 cm.) high (handle down); 10 1⁄2 in. (26.6 cm.) wide; 6 1⁄4 in. (15.8 cm.) deep

Provenance

The Collection of M.F. Moore Esq.
Acquired from R.A. Lee, London, November 1965.

Literature

R.A. Lee, The Knibb Family Clockmakers, London, 1964, p. 90, pl. 88 and p. 181.
P.G. Dawson, C.B. Drover, D.W. Parkes, Early English Clocks, Woodbridge, 1982, p. 365.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Amelia Walker Director, Specialist Head of Private & Iconic Collections

awalker@christies.com +44 20 7389 2085

Lot Essay

Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: 'Thomas Taylor was a leading clockmaker, apprenticed in 1678 (to his father Thomas Taylor) and Master of the Clockmakers' Company 1710-23. He also retailed the work of other clockmakers, as in this case. Ronald Lee initially bought the clock in a secondary saleroom, recognising the dial and case as a product of Joseph Knibb's workshop: but it had a 19th century movement behind the dial plate. Some five years later he was alerted by Robert Foulkes that the Science Museum was disposing of objects surplus to their requirements, among which was a 19th century clock fitted with a Knibb movement signed by Thomas Taylor which he was able to reunite with the Taylor dial and case. Other examples of almost identical 'double six' grande sonnerie clocks by Knibb are recorded (e.g. Sotheby's, 28 April 1988, Lot 290).'

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