James Stratton
Director
Lot 39
A fine and rare early 18th century silver-mounted ebony veneered table clock Francis Robinson, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£8,000 - £12,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A fine and rare early 18th century silver-mounted ebony veneered table clock
Francis Robinson, London
The stepped caddy top with silver knopped carrying handle over applied silver mounts, the front with central mask above a silk-backed sound fret depicting flowing foliage and tulips, framed by four silver urn finials; the front with further silver mounts with unusual green man mask lock escutcheons, the sides with rectangular glazed observation panels, the rear with a simple moulded surround enclosing a glazed door, all raised on a moulded base and sitting on four block feet. The 6.25-inch rectangular brass dial with cast winged cherubs head silver spandrels, silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with fleur-de-lys half-hour markers, blued steel hands, mock pendulum aperture and finely matted centre, the date aperture framed by engraved birds over a central basket of flowers, a strike/silent lever to the upper left border and signed along the top Francis Robinson, London within a floral border. The twin-fusee movement with five knopped pillars, pivoted verge escapement to a pendulum with lenticular bob, now running on steel lines, striking the hours on a bell via a rack-and-snail and the half-hours via passing strike on a smaller bell mounted to the side. The backplate richly engraved with foliate scrolls and a pair of cherubs, centred by a human mask with raiment, all within a wheatear border. Currently ticking and striking sold with a case key and winding key.
43cms (17ins) high.
The stepped caddy top with silver knopped carrying handle over applied silver mounts, the front with central mask above a silk-backed sound fret depicting flowing foliage and tulips, framed by four silver urn finials; the front with further silver mounts with unusual green man mask lock escutcheons, the sides with rectangular glazed observation panels, the rear with a simple moulded surround enclosing a glazed door, all raised on a moulded base and sitting on four block feet. The 6.25-inch rectangular brass dial with cast winged cherubs head silver spandrels, silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with fleur-de-lys half-hour markers, blued steel hands, mock pendulum aperture and finely matted centre, the date aperture framed by engraved birds over a central basket of flowers, a strike/silent lever to the upper left border and signed along the top Francis Robinson, London within a floral border. The twin-fusee movement with five knopped pillars, pivoted verge escapement to a pendulum with lenticular bob, now running on steel lines, striking the hours on a bell via a rack-and-snail and the half-hours via passing strike on a smaller bell mounted to the side. The backplate richly engraved with foliate scrolls and a pair of cherubs, centred by a human mask with raiment, all within a wheatear border. Currently ticking and striking sold with a case key and winding key.
43cms (17ins) high.
Footnotes
Provenance:
The Carl Barnes Collection.
Purchased Christie's, London, 30th June 1993, Lot 270, consigned to the sale by a descendant of T. G. (Geoffrey) Blackwell, OBE (1884–1943), former Chairman of the international food group, Cross & Blackwell.
Christie's, London, 30th September 1932, Lot 76.
Geoffrey Blackwell was a close friend of R. W. Symonds, leading horological authority, and author of Thomas Tompion: His Life and Work (1951). Symonds regarded Blackwell and his collection as highly significant, and in 1936 published two articles in Apollo (Volume XXXIII) which featured this clock, described as "..a Queen Anne silver-mounted ebony bracket clock by Francis Robinson."
Francis Robinson (c.1670–c.1747), Clockmaker in Ordinary to King George II, was apprenticed to Henry Jones from 1685 to 1692, though only gained his Freedom in 1707. He established an enviable reputation at his Inner Temple workshop, served as a Clockmakers Company Assistant in 1717 and became Master in 1725. Two years later he was appointed Clockmaker in Ordinary to King George II, also suppling timepieces to the Prince of Wales. Silver mounted clocks were the ultimate status symbol, often reserved for Royal commissions.