A WALNUT AND OLIVEWOOD OYSTER VENEERED AND PARQUETRY LONGCASE CLOCK

A WALNUT AND OLIVEWOOD OYSTER VENEERED AND PARQUETRY LONGCASE CLOCK

PROBABLY BY SAMUEL WATSON, LONDON, LATE 17TH CENTURY AND LATER

the brass eight day movement with four turned pillars, the anchor escapement striking the hours on a bell, the brass ten and a quarter inch dial with a silvered chapter ring with black Roman hour numerals interspersed with fleur-de-lis markers with a matted centre, with a subsidiary seconds dial, a date aperture and pierced hands, the shuttered wind holes inside cherub head spandrels, the hood with silk backed fretwork frieze, with ebonised spiral twist columns, the trunk decorated with fan and star paterae on an oyster ground, with a glazed lenticle, on a plinth foot, with a pair of weights, pendulum and key

197cm high

Provenance

The family collection formed at Well Head House, Halifax, Yorkshire.

Catalogue Note

Samuel Watson (d.1740) was elected as Sherriff of Coventry in 1686 before going to London in 1690. Watson made two astronomical clocks for King Charles II. He had been made 'Mathematician in Ordinary' to the King in 1682 when he delivered the first clock. Watson was the leading astronomical clockmaker at the end of 17th century. He seemed to specialise in table (spring) clocks but he also made some longcase clocks and a number of watches.