A good Bell top, walnut table clock by John Taylor of London. Circa 1780.
A very handsome clock in beautiful ‘Country House’ condition.
Stock No: 14375-SS
The eight day duration, 5 knopped pillar, double gut fusee movement now with ‘Tic-tac’ escapement spanning three and a half teeth, rack striking the hours on a top-mounted bell and also having strike/silent select, centre sweeping calendar date and the backplate, return leaf spring, fixing brackets and backcock are all nicely engraved.
Behind a 7” wide, break-arch brass dial with gilt Rococo style corner and arch spandrels. The arch also bears a narrow silvered strike/silent select ring and has a finely matted centre and tailed steel hand. The silvered chapter ring has small, outer, Arabic fives, a minute track, small Roman hour numerals and inner, Arabic calendar date numerals indicated with a brass arrowhead centre-sweep hand. The finely matted centre has an upper axe-head aperture with chamfered edges displaying the silvered makers plate of “John Taylor, London” in exceptionally fine and beautiful script. The blackened steel hands are of Serpentine style.
The walnut veneered oak case is of good colour and patina and has never been restored. The figured bell top has a brass, swinging carrying handle and the upper corners have cast brass pineapple finials. The upper returned moulding sits over the full-size glazed and locking front door that has cast brass sound frets to the upper quadrants. The case sides have tall, arched top brass, fishscale sound frets that are backed with gold cloth. The lower moulding is above a short, plain plinth which sits upon four, cast brass Ogee feet.
* The high quality of this clock suggests that it was made by the John Taylor of Gloucester Street, London who was known as a maker of Bracket clocks and is highly regarded. The appearance of this clock is of untouched but treasured condition. The movement has been previously fully restored by me and carries my full 18 months guarantee. It is completely original with the exception of the escapement conversion from Verge to Tic-tac for the reasons of improving the timekeeping therefore, I decided to leave this as it is part of the clock's personal history. It really is splendid to look at.
** These repeating clocks with a strike/silent feature were sometimes taken to the bedchamber at night and placed in silent mode using the selector hand. The clock would not then strike the hours and awaken the owner. It is for this reason that they were originally fitted with the more robust 'Verge' escapement and even though there is a 'holdfast' in which to place the pendulum during transit, it was rarely used as time would be lost so, the clock was grabbed by the handles and carried up to bed - still ticking! Once seen, these clocks really fire the imagination as to their history and usage, they were extremely expensive when made and could only be afforded by the wealthy. This is well-priced for a good example of an original clock that is becoming ever rarer.
Dimensions: 18” high excluding the handle x 11” wide x 8” deep.
Circa: 1780.
Condition: Please see above.
Price: £10,500.
