James Stratton
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Lot 87*
A very fine and rare first half of the 18th century burr walnut quarter repeating timepiece David Hubert, London
16 December 2015, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £23,750 inc. premium
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Clocks (UK)
A very fine and rare first half of the 18th century burr walnut quarter repeating timepiece
David Hubert, London
The inverted bell top case with central handle over a moulded cornice, the sides with arched glazed panels, on a moulded plinth base on block feet, the front door with silk backed quadrants, the five inch arched brass dial with subisidiary dial in the arch to activate the rise and fall regulation over unusual cast spandrels, with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring enclosing the finely matted centre with applied name plaque and well finished apertures for the mock pendulum and date, with blued steel hands, the movement with gut (now wire) fusee to a verge escapement with rise and fall regulation, repeating the hours and quarters on two bells and hammers via a cord to the side, the plates united by five knopped pillars, the backplate boldly signed in the centre amid a pattern of flowing foliate scrolls within a single line border, the quarter repeat spring and side brackets also engraved 40cms (16ins) high
The inverted bell top case with central handle over a moulded cornice, the sides with arched glazed panels, on a moulded plinth base on block feet, the front door with silk backed quadrants, the five inch arched brass dial with subisidiary dial in the arch to activate the rise and fall regulation over unusual cast spandrels, with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring enclosing the finely matted centre with applied name plaque and well finished apertures for the mock pendulum and date, with blued steel hands, the movement with gut (now wire) fusee to a verge escapement with rise and fall regulation, repeating the hours and quarters on two bells and hammers via a cord to the side, the plates united by five knopped pillars, the backplate boldly signed in the centre amid a pattern of flowing foliate scrolls within a single line border, the quarter repeat spring and side brackets also engraved 40cms (16ins) high
Footnotes
Provenance:
Purchased from R.A. Lee 28 June 1978. Lee had bought it from Sotheby's.
Two David Huberts, father and son were working simultaneously in London in the first half of the 18th century. David Senior was from La Rochelle in France and became Free of the Clockmakers Company in 1714. He worked until the mid 1740s and was succeeded not by his son, but by a Joseph Barnes.
David Hubert Junior was apprenticed in 1727 but is unheard of after 1737.
The choice of burr walnut veneers in the current lot is particularly fine, with lively figuring and rich colouring.