[Illustration: BRACKET CLOCKS. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (ABOUT 1760).
Maker, Johnson (London).
Height, 1 ft. 5 in. Width, 9-1/4 in. Depth, 5-1/4 in.
Maker, Thomas Hill (Fleet Street, London).
Height, 1 ft. 9 in. Width, 1 ft. Depth, 7 in.]
The clock on the left (illustrated p. 181) is by Sam Watson, of
Coventry, and is dated 1687. It has the basket top, reminiscent in
decorative treatment of the metal fret found in lantern brass clocks
of contemporary date. It will be observed that these clocks have two
hands. The spandrels of this and the adjacent clock have the single
cherub's-head brass ornament. The latter clock, on the right, is by
Joseph Knibb, of Oxford, and is in date 1690. The basket decoration is
absent and the top is of simpler form. These two examples indicate that
fine work was done in the provinces. By the end of the reign of William
III the table clock had grown taller. The example illustrated (p. 183),
by Thomas Loomes, is 15-1/2 inches high and 11-1/2 inches wide. It
will be noticed that the basket top was still being made, and from now
onwards the four turned brass terminals at the top became a feature and
lasted for a century. By the first quarter of the eighteenth century
a lunette had been added, as shown in the clock on the same page by
Thomas Johnson, in date 1730. From this date feet were almost always
employed. Similar feet embellished the long clock-case from a slightly
later period throughout the century, and are still in evidence in
examples made as late as the first half of the nineteenth century. In
the 1730 clock by Thomas Johnson, the only brass ornament on the case
is the escutcheon to the lock, a feature which, as time went on, lost
its prominence and became more reticent.
In the reign of George II the clock again grew in stature. Its
portability was evidently not a necessity. It cannot be now said to
resemble a carriage clock. Chamber clocks became definite objects of
decorative utility as part of the domestic fitments of a room. The
architectural ornament becomes pronounced, and there is a massive
grandeur about the cases which suited the early Georgian mansions and
Hogarthian furniture of the period. These eight-day striking and alarum
clocks had become a feature of the English home. The fine provincial
example by John Page, of Ipswich, is 24 inches high and 12-1/4 inches
wide. In addition to the four terminals there is a fifth at the apex on
a column with supporting metal ornament. The adjacent clock by Godfrey
Poy, in date 1745, has at the apex a small figure of Ajax. In both
these examples there are rings at the side as ornaments, or possibly
for use to lift the clock in lieu of the older style of the handle at
the top (p. 187).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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