A WILLIAM III WALNUT STRIKING MONTH-GOING LONGCASE CLOCK
A WILLIAM III WALNUT STRIKING MONTH-GOING LONGCASE CLOCK
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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A NOBLEMAN
A WILLIAM III WALNUT STRIKING MONTH-GOING LONGCASE CLOCK

THOMAS TOMPION, LONDON, THE MOVEMENT AND CASE NUMBERED 306, CIRCA 1699

Details
A WILLIAM III WALNUT STRIKING MONTH-GOING LONGCASE CLOCK
THOMAS TOMPION, LONDON, THE MOVEMENT AND CASE NUMBERED 306, CIRCA 1699
CASE: the double caddy top with replaced giltwood finials and fretwork friezes, brass capped columns to angles, the trunk door stamped to the inner edge '23' and '306' with cushion moulding to the border above a stepped plinth with feather-banding, replaced caddy and restored lower plinth DIAL: the 11 inch square brass latched dial with double-screwed Indian mask spandrels and engraved foliage and signed to the lower edge 'Tho: Tompion Londini Fecit' above a scored line, the silvered chapter ring with Roman hours and Arabic minutes with sword hilt half hour markers and cross half quarter hour markers, the finely matted centre with seconds ring, date square and blued steel hands (minute part replaced) MOVEMENT: with six latched pillars (one replaced), anchor escapement, outside countwheel strike on later bell, bolt and shutter maintaining power, stamped '306' to lower edge of backplate, replaced seatboard, formerly with brackets to backboard; two brass cased weights, pendulum, case key
96 in. (243.8 cm.) high; 19¼ in. (49 cm.) wide; 10½ in. (26.7 cm.) deep
Provenance
By tradition in the Pierpont Morgan Collection in the early 20th century.
Percy Webster Collection, Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1954, lot 120 sold to R.Wells.
Sotheby's, London, 16 December 1955, lot 120, sold to Garrard.
Sotheby's, New York, 23 March 1974, lot 90, sold probably to Asprey.
Literature
Apollo May 1940.
Antique Collector, February 1957, p. xvii.
Connoisseur, March 1957, p. xxxix.
Antiquarian Horology volume nine, June 1975, p. 264.

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Elizabeth Wight
Elizabeth Wight

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Lot Essay

TOMPION WALNUT MONTH-GOING LONGCASE CLOCKS

Tompion's numbering system started circa 1682 and Jeremy Evans, Thomas Tompion at the Dial and Three Crowns, Ticehurst, 2006, p. 71, suggests clocks in the lower 300s were retailed circa 1699. Fine walnut month-going longcase clocks by Tompion appear infrequently at auction. Excluding Nos. 115 and 395, which have associated cases, the following examples have appeared at auction in recent years:
No. 302, with dial signed by Tompion & Banger, sold Sotheby's, London, 5 October 1989, lot 289, £132,000.
No. 333, sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 13 December 2000, lot 104, £311,750.
No. 318, from the Collection of the late 13th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Bt, Christie's, London, 11 July 2003, lot 73, £341,250.
No. 365, with Royal provenance, sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 15 September 2004, lot 43 £520,450.
No. 301, sold The Property of a Gentleman, Christie's, London, 4 June 2009, lot 80, £241,250.
No. 189, with replaced door cleat and later plinth sold The Property of a Gentleman, Christie's, London, 18 November 2010, lot 94, £157,250
R.W. Symonds (Thomas Tompion, His Life & Work, London, 1951, p.70, figs. 38 and 39 and p.72, figs. 42 and 43) illustrates walnut month-going clocks 292 and 302.

THOMAS TOMPION (1639-1713),

Thomas Tompion born at Northill, Bedfordshire, had moved to London by 1671. In 1674 he moved to Water Lane and met Dr. Robert Hooke, through whom he came to the notice of Charles II. From this time he held an unrivalled position in English horology. In 1703 he was Master of the Clockmakers' Company. He died aged 74 and is buried in Westminster Abbey as befits Englands greatest clockmaker.

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