.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Descriptif du lot
THOMAS TOMPION (1639-1713)
Over three centuries after his last production Thomas Tompion remains as England's most celebrated clockmaker. Despite his extraordinary career, little is known of his beginnings. It is not known to whom he was apprenticed, but by September 1671 he was in London and three years later made Free of the Clockmakers Company by Redemption. The same year, he established his shop at the sign of the ‘Dial and Three Crowns’ in Water Lane at the corner of Fleet Street and met the great experimental physicist Robert Hooke, whose contacts would raise Tompion from obscurity to the attention of royalty. Patronised by Charles II and subsequently William III, Tompion received the most significant commissions of the day, including two clocks for the Greenwich Observatory and a year-going table clock to celebrate the 1689 coronation of William and Mary, now known as the ‘Mostyn Tompion' and at the British Museum (Museum number 1982,0702.1). He became Master of the Clockmakers Company in 1703 and his fame was such that his portrait was painted by the Court artist, Sir Godfrey Kneller. Upon his death, Tompion was buried in Westminster Abbey.
‘GRAVER 195
The engraving on Tompion clock movements is usually attributable to four principal craftsmen (J. Evans, J. Carter, B. Wright, Thomas Tompion, 300 Years, Stroud, 2013, pp. 174-185). The 'Tulip' engraver is the earliest and the other three are identified by the clock on which their work first appears: 'G.155', 'G.195' and 'G.515' (the 'G' referring to 'Graver'). The present clock has engraving in the hand of Graver 195 who has possibly been identified as Henry Adeane (Evans, Carter, Wright, 2013, op. cit., pp. 181-3.) employed by Tompion from circa 1693-4. He also worked for a number of other eminent London clockmakers including Daniel Quare (1648-1724). His work on the dial plate of a longcase clock (no. 318) features the engraved name ‘Henry’ beneath the chapter ring. Adeane was made free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1675. Graver 195 also utilised designs by Gribelin and his work is typified by the use of decorative masks and gargoyles within the foliate scrolls and particularly down the centre line of the backplate; the present clock features a ‘cherub’ mask above the signature cartouche.
TRANSITIONAL STYLE
Jeremy Evans classifies Tompion’s cases in three distinct styles for ‘spring’ clocks (Evans, Carter, Wright, 2013, Thomas Tompion, 300 Years., pp. 154-5): ‘Phase 1’ circa 1680-90; ‘Phase 2’ circa 1690-1711 and; ‘Phase 3’ circa 1697-1713. Similarly, spring clock dials were typically made as square, known as ‘Phase 1’ or rectangular – ‘Phase 2’ (Evans, Carter, Wright, 2013, op. cit., pp. 156-160) with ‘transitional’ dials first appearing circa 1690-91 necessitated by Tompion’s introduction of the spring-suspended pendulum with its rise-and-fall regulation arm. The dial of the present clock ‘202’ exhibits a number of transitional features; the mock-pendulum aperture with squared ends, the Arabic minutes with a centre line between the double figures and the pendulum regulation calibrated to the inside.
Over three centuries after his last production Thomas Tompion remains as England's most celebrated clockmaker. Despite his extraordinary career, little is known of his beginnings. It is not known to whom he was apprenticed, but by September 1671 he was in London and three years later made Free of the Clockmakers Company by Redemption. The same year, he established his shop at the sign of the ‘Dial and Three Crowns’ in Water Lane at the corner of Fleet Street and met the great experimental physicist Robert Hooke, whose contacts would raise Tompion from obscurity to the attention of royalty. Patronised by Charles II and subsequently William III, Tompion received the most significant commissions of the day, including two clocks for the Greenwich Observatory and a year-going table clock to celebrate the 1689 coronation of William and Mary, now known as the ‘Mostyn Tompion' and at the British Museum (Museum number 1982,0702.1). He became Master of the Clockmakers Company in 1703 and his fame was such that his portrait was painted by the Court artist, Sir Godfrey Kneller. Upon his death, Tompion was buried in Westminster Abbey.
‘GRAVER 195
The engraving on Tompion clock movements is usually attributable to four principal craftsmen (J. Evans, J. Carter, B. Wright, Thomas Tompion, 300 Years, Stroud, 2013, pp. 174-185). The 'Tulip' engraver is the earliest and the other three are identified by the clock on which their work first appears: 'G.155', 'G.195' and 'G.515' (the 'G' referring to 'Graver'). The present clock has engraving in the hand of Graver 195 who has possibly been identified as Henry Adeane (Evans, Carter, Wright, 2013, op. cit., pp. 181-3.) employed by Tompion from circa 1693-4. He also worked for a number of other eminent London clockmakers including Daniel Quare (1648-1724). His work on the dial plate of a longcase clock (no. 318) features the engraved name ‘Henry’ beneath the chapter ring. Adeane was made free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1675. Graver 195 also utilised designs by Gribelin and his work is typified by the use of decorative masks and gargoyles within the foliate scrolls and particularly down the centre line of the backplate; the present clock features a ‘cherub’ mask above the signature cartouche.
TRANSITIONAL STYLE
Jeremy Evans classifies Tompion’s cases in three distinct styles for ‘spring’ clocks (Evans, Carter, Wright, 2013, Thomas Tompion, 300 Years., pp. 154-5): ‘Phase 1’ circa 1680-90; ‘Phase 2’ circa 1690-1711 and; ‘Phase 3’ circa 1697-1713. Similarly, spring clock dials were typically made as square, known as ‘Phase 1’ or rectangular – ‘Phase 2’ (Evans, Carter, Wright, 2013, op. cit., pp. 156-160) with ‘transitional’ dials first appearing circa 1690-91 necessitated by Tompion’s introduction of the spring-suspended pendulum with its rise-and-fall regulation arm. The dial of the present clock ‘202’ exhibits a number of transitional features; the mock-pendulum aperture with squared ends, the Arabic minutes with a centre line between the double figures and the pendulum regulation calibrated to the inside.