A CHIPPENDALE FIGURED MAPLE TALL-CASE CLOCK

Although probably representing a later association, the vibrant graining on the case and the delicacy of the painted dial of this clock illustrate high quality workmanship from the late Chippendale and early Federal era. The dial is signed by the Elizabethtown, New Jersey clockmaker, Samuel Kennedy Miller (1777-1850) who, as seen here, omitted his first name when identifying himself professionally. The grandson of Aaron Miller (d. 1779), one of the earliest clockmakers in New Jersey, Kennedy Miller resided on North Broad Street and advertised as both a clockmaker and gold- and silversmith (William E. Dorst, Clocks and Watches of New Jersey (1966), pp. 182-183). For other clocks with dials signed by Miller, see George Batten advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (December 1930), p. 525; Sotheby's New York, June 22, 1995, lot 236 and January 19-21, 1996, lot 1580; a clock that sold Christie's New York, June 18, 2003, lot 167.