James Stratton
Director
Lot 40
A fine late 17th century ebony veneered quarter-repeating, striking basket top table clock William Speakman London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £10,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A fine late 17th century ebony veneered quarter-repeating, striking basket top table clock
William Speakman London
The case surmounted by a double dolphin cast brass handle above a repoussé basket top finely decorated with cherubs, foliage and scrollwork, all backed in red silk and framed by (replaced) urn finials to a moulded cornice top. The front door with silk-backed sound fret and further mounts, the sides with glazed panels, on a moulded base and block feet. The 6.25-inch square brass dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with elaborate fleur-de-lys half-hour markers emanating from the quarter-track, the finely matted centre with scroll engraving to the chamfered date aperture above VI, strike/silent lever at XII and four winged
cherub head spandrels and blued steel hands. The movement united by six knopped pillars, twin gut fusees (now on wire) to a reinstated knife edge verge escapement and short bob pendulum, the spring barrels with external blued steel set-up ratchets. Striking the hours on a bell mounted above, with quarter repeating on a pair of vertical bells via a pull cord to the centre. The backplate profusely engraved with symmetrical scrolling tulip and foliate ornament, signed within a cartouche William Speakman London.Currently ticking, striking and repeating. 39cms (15ins) high.
The case surmounted by a double dolphin cast brass handle above a repoussé basket top finely decorated with cherubs, foliage and scrollwork, all backed in red silk and framed by (replaced) urn finials to a moulded cornice top. The front door with silk-backed sound fret and further mounts, the sides with glazed panels, on a moulded base and block feet. The 6.25-inch square brass dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with elaborate fleur-de-lys half-hour markers emanating from the quarter-track, the finely matted centre with scroll engraving to the chamfered date aperture above VI, strike/silent lever at XII and four winged
cherub head spandrels and blued steel hands. The movement united by six knopped pillars, twin gut fusees (now on wire) to a reinstated knife edge verge escapement and short bob pendulum, the spring barrels with external blued steel set-up ratchets. Striking the hours on a bell mounted above, with quarter repeating on a pair of vertical bells via a pull cord to the centre. The backplate profusely engraved with symmetrical scrolling tulip and foliate ornament, signed within a cartouche William Speakman London.Currently ticking, striking and repeating. 39cms (15ins) high.
Footnotes
Provenance: The Carl Barnes Collection,
Ambrose Loughton Auctioneers, 27th of September 1984, lot 202.
A clock by William Speakman featuring a similar movement and an identically engraved backplate was sold in these rooms on 13 December 2017, Fine Clocks, London, New Bond Street. Another example bearing an identical backplate was offered in Fine Clocks, 11 December 2007, London, New Bond Street. William Speakman was apprenticed to Peter Closon in 1654, completing his training under Andrew Prime following Closon's death in 1660, and obtained his Freedom in 1661. He served as Master of the Clockmakers' Company in 1701 and is recorded as having worked in Westminster and later in Hatton Garden.