JOHANNES USWALD, AMSTERDAM. CIRCA 1785

Details

A Dutch small walnut longcase clock with 'scheepjesmechaniek' (automaton ships)
Johannes Uswald, Amsterdam. Circa 1785
The caddy-topped hood with fretwork panels and surmounted by cast brass Atlas, Mercury and Ceres finials, with ormolu mounts to angled pilasters, fretwork side panels, the trunk door with moulded frame and with cast brass lenticle frame modelled with a flower basket, above bombé plinth and on claw and ball feet, the 36 cm. (14 in.) wide painted brass dial with aperture showing ships rocking against a harbour scene, with penny moon in the sky, silvered and arcaded Roman and Arabic chaper ring above, the matted centre embellished with engraved scrolls, with silvered seconds ring centred by a date aperture and flanked by signature banners for JOH.S USWALD/AMSTELDAM, with fan-shaped day of week indication also engraved with representational figures, ringed winding holes, the blued steel hands centred by an alarm-setting disc, the eight day movement with four pillars, Dutch rack strike and alarm on two bells; pendulum, door key
257 cm. high

Special Notice

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,001. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Jaap Zeeman, De Nederlandse Staande Klok, Zwolle, 1996, p.121, fig.113.
Tardy, French Clocks, Clocks the World Over, Part III, Paris, 1982, p.262

Johannes Uswald is mentioned in 1782 and 1795 and was probably working in Amsterdam from circa 1765 to 1795. He had a workshop at Oudezijds Voorburgwal 316. Zeeman shows another small longcase by Uswald. Tardy shows a small longcase clock by Jan Hendrik Spiering of Amsterdam, without automaton ships.