James Stratton
Director
Lot 74
A fine and rare late 17th century walnut veneered quarter repeating basket-top table clock of small size Jacob Hassenius, Whitehall London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£5,000 - £8,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A fine and rare late 17th century walnut veneered quarter repeating basket-top table clock of small size
Jacob Hassenius, Whitehall London
The case surmounted by a finely cast dolphin-decorated handle over a shallow repoussé basket, each side adorned with a festoon of flowers supporting a bird within foliate scrollwork, backed in red silk, framed by four (later) acorn finials on an overhanging moulded cornice. The front door with oyster veneers and brass escutcheon, the sides set with plain glazed observation windows, the rear door with a moulded edge and matching escutcheon around a central glazed panel, raised on a moulded base and block feet. The 5.75-inch square brass dial with silvered chapter ring, engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, intercepted by bold fleur-de-lys half-hour markers set on an inner quarter-hour track. The matted centre fitted with a small calendar aperture in the lower section and framed by four cast winged cherub head spandrels, blued steel hands (later). The movement with five knopped and ringed pillars and twin gut fusees driving a knife edge verge escapement set behind a decoratively shaped apron, with hourly rack-strike on a bell. The hours and quarters repeated on the pulling of a cord to the right hand side via the hour bell and a further smaller bell. The backplate richly engraved with tulips and scrolling foliate designs and signed within a central name cartouche: Jacobus Hazenius At Wight Hall (sic). Ticking, striking, and repeating. 33cms (13ins) high.
The case surmounted by a finely cast dolphin-decorated handle over a shallow repoussé basket, each side adorned with a festoon of flowers supporting a bird within foliate scrollwork, backed in red silk, framed by four (later) acorn finials on an overhanging moulded cornice. The front door with oyster veneers and brass escutcheon, the sides set with plain glazed observation windows, the rear door with a moulded edge and matching escutcheon around a central glazed panel, raised on a moulded base and block feet. The 5.75-inch square brass dial with silvered chapter ring, engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, intercepted by bold fleur-de-lys half-hour markers set on an inner quarter-hour track. The matted centre fitted with a small calendar aperture in the lower section and framed by four cast winged cherub head spandrels, blued steel hands (later). The movement with five knopped and ringed pillars and twin gut fusees driving a knife edge verge escapement set behind a decoratively shaped apron, with hourly rack-strike on a bell. The hours and quarters repeated on the pulling of a cord to the right hand side via the hour bell and a further smaller bell. The backplate richly engraved with tulips and scrolling foliate designs and signed within a central name cartouche: Jacobus Hazenius At Wight Hall (sic). Ticking, striking, and repeating. 33cms (13ins) high.
Footnotes
Jacobus Hassenius was a Russian watchmaker who was made a Free Brother of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in January 1682/3. He paid quarterage until 1697, when it is thought he returned to Russia. This coincides with the year that Peter the Great visited London, likely not a coincidence. Peter had also toured shipyards in the Netherlands and used the London trip to visit the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the Royal Society. In addition to gathering knowledge, Peter enlisted around 60 master craftsmen from London to return with him to Russia.
In 1698, Hassenius was granted a warrant "to permit James Hassenius to export to Muscovy for the use of his Imperial Majesty the Czar of Muscovy 13 clocks, 3 large or long clocks, a great table clock and some tools his majesty bought in the Strand." Hassenius's skills and experience in London would have made him invaluable to the Tsar.
On 1 May 1703, Peter the Great captured the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans on the Neva River, and on 27 May he founded St. Petersburg. Peter's ambition to make Russia a naval power was fulfilled, and England's support of the Russian Navy continued throughout the 18th century.
Another clock by Jacob Hassenius with similar engraved backplate was sold in these rooms on 30 November 2022. Another example is featured in the supplement to Dzik, S. (2019) Engraving on English Table Clocks: Art on a Canvas of Brass 1660–1800, Wild Boar Publications, reference H3-3.
For a more detailed insight into the life and times of Hassenius, see "James or Jacob Hassenius, a clock- and watchmaekr in London and Moscow" Keith Stella, Antiquarian Horology, March 2024.