James Stratton
Director
Property of a Gentleman
Lot 51
A good late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating basket top table clock Daniel Quare, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£10,000 - £15,000
Ask about this lot
Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A good late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating basket top table clock
Daniel Quare, London
The case surmounted by a double S-scrolled handle over an elaborately decorated basket top adorned with flowing flowers, scrolls, foliage and cherubs in mid-flight, all surrounded by four ball finials over a moulded top. The front applied with repoussé mounts decorated in a similar manner, the sides with glazed observation windows and pierced sound frets backed in red silk, and the back with a long glazed observation window revealing the intricately decorated movement within, set on a moulded base and four bun feet. The 6.25-inch brass dial with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, intercepted by fancy cruciform half-hour markers, the centre with mock pendulum aperture and ringed winding square to the right-hand side, signed on the chapter ring Daniel Quare, London. Framed by four cast brass cherub-head spandrels with finely pierced blued steel hands. The six-pillar movement with single gut fusee (now steel-lined), verge escapement and short bob pendulum; the robust plates finely engraved with flowing scrolls and foliage and signed in a central cartouche Daniel Quare, London, with cam to the right-hand side powering the pull quarter-repeat mechanism striking on two bells mounted above the movement. Currently ticking and repeating, and sold together with a 17th-century style pierced key. 38cms (14.5ins) high.
The case surmounted by a double S-scrolled handle over an elaborately decorated basket top adorned with flowing flowers, scrolls, foliage and cherubs in mid-flight, all surrounded by four ball finials over a moulded top. The front applied with repoussé mounts decorated in a similar manner, the sides with glazed observation windows and pierced sound frets backed in red silk, and the back with a long glazed observation window revealing the intricately decorated movement within, set on a moulded base and four bun feet. The 6.25-inch brass dial with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, intercepted by fancy cruciform half-hour markers, the centre with mock pendulum aperture and ringed winding square to the right-hand side, signed on the chapter ring Daniel Quare, London. Framed by four cast brass cherub-head spandrels with finely pierced blued steel hands. The six-pillar movement with single gut fusee (now steel-lined), verge escapement and short bob pendulum; the robust plates finely engraved with flowing scrolls and foliage and signed in a central cartouche Daniel Quare, London, with cam to the right-hand side powering the pull quarter-repeat mechanism striking on two bells mounted above the movement. Currently ticking and repeating, and sold together with a 17th-century style pierced key. 38cms (14.5ins) high.
Footnotes
Daniel Quare, a Quaker born in 1647, was admitted as Free Brother in the Clockmaker's Company in 1671 and served as Master in 1708. He later refused the office of Clockmaker to George I as his religion precluded him from swearing an oath of allegiance to the crown. Quare continued in business on his own until about 1715 when he took Stephen Horseman into partnership. He died in Croydon in 1724 and his business was carried on by Horseman until he fell into bankruptcy in 1733.
Provenance: Property of a Gentleman