Sale
16818 - Fine Clocks & Barometers, 7 Jul 2009
New Bond Street
Lot No: 132
A fine and rare early 18th century chinoiserie decorated bracket clock with original key
J. Windmills, London
The inverted bell top surmounted by a turned handle with double-S uprights over a simply moulded cornice, the sides with shaped and arched sound frets (the upper ones retaining their original decorated pierced frets, the lower ones glazed), to a moulded base and squat bun feet, decorated all over, predominantly in red, green and cream with Oriental figures and flowers within shaped cartouches, the 6.75 inch brass dial with shallow arch and elaborate engraved border enclosing the signature Jos Windmills, London over a strike/not strike lever within the wheatear border, with (replaced) crown and sceptre spandrels and Roman and Arabic silvered chapter ring with half-quarter marks, the finely matted centre with mock pendulum aperture and chamfered date aperture with adjustment slot above, the twin gut fusee movement with thick plates united by five knopped and finned pillars with verge escapement rack striking the hours on a bell and repeating the quarters on a nest of five bells and hammers (one hammer lacking), the backplate engraved with symmetrical foliate scrolls enclosing an oval cartouche with the signature in a wheatear border over a pair of outside clicks with brass ratchets, the movement secured to the case by a pair of steel L-shaped brackets with facetted tips 44cm (17.5in) high
Sold for £67,200 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Email: James Stratton
Tel: 020 7468 8364
Footnote:
Provenance:
The property of a European Noble Family.
This clock was almost certainly bought new from Joseph Windmills circa 1710 and has been in the same family ownership since that time.
The clock is a remarkable survival of a rare type of clock that Windmills is assumed to have made only very rarely and only for very important clients.
Decorating furniture and other objects in imitation of Chinese lacquer work was the height of fashion in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The best known work detailing techniques and offering designs is 'A Treatise on Japanning' written by Stalker and Parker in 1696. As far as clock cases were concerned, the longcase was the perfect 'canvas' and many examples survive today, generally in the darker hues of blues and greens and only very rarely in cream or red.
Bracket clock cases were more of a challenge however, and it is rare to find a design that truly works very well, and when an example is seen, such as in the current lot, the effect can be quite breath taking. It is in generally excellent 'Country House condition' and retains almost all of its original decoration. Of particular merit is the survival of the pierced and decorated sound frets. These are set into each side and on the front door, flanking the arch, each is pierced and coloured in blue, green and red within a green and gilt border. Neale, in 'Joseph and Thomas Windmills' (AHS 1999) illustrates two japanned cases by Windmills. The cream example in colour on the back cover of the book is a slightly later example and shows how Windmills had, by about 1715, developed his more typical dial with a full semicircular arch and his star-centred date dial. Also by this time, the ratchets and clicks for setting up the tension in the springs had moved from the back to the frontplate. Figure 5.56 is more closely related to this lot and shares with it the shallow arch and outside clicks, even the facetted glass mock pendulum is the same. It also offers a view of what the original finials might have looked like. With its running border decorating the upper part of the dial opening, the current lot has a more successful design to the arch and is the only japanned clock by Windmills that we are aware of to display the original pierced and decorated quarter pieces in the door. The dial is also more elaborate than either of the other examples, showing a confident cursive signature within a well engraved border.
The clock also benefits from having its original pierced, gilt brass winding key. The key is double ended with a tapered nib at one end. On 'short' months with less than 31 days, this nib could be inserted into the slot above the date aperture on the dial to advance the date to 1.
Joseph Windmills was most definitely one of the finest makers working at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Several examples of his movements, dial engraving or cases are almost identical to that of his better known contemporaries such Thomas Tompion and Daniel Quare. The current movement has many similarities to the work of the latter and Neale illustrates a Daniel Quare movement from the British Musuem that is almost identical to the current lot, the same movement is illustrated in Hobsons Choice (Malcolm Gardner 1982), page 75 entitled "Striking Clock with Pull Quarter on Five Bells. Quare (probably Windmills)". That Windmills and Quare worked closely together is certain.
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