James Stratton
Director
Lot 84
A late 17th century ebonised table timepiece with alarm and pull quarter repeat Henry Jones, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £10,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A late 17th century ebonised table timepiece with alarm and pull quarter repeat
Henry Jones, London
The case with tied foliate-bud handle on a low caddy applied with four cast mounts of foliage, scrolls and masks within a finely moulded frame over a moulded cornice, silk-backed gilt-brass sound frets to the front door further set with a pair of escutcheons, glazed panels to the sides, glazed rear door and set on a simple moulded base on button feet. The 6.25-inch square brass dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring intercepted by fancy cruciform half-hour markers emanating from the quarter track, the finely matted centre with decorated blued steel hands, silvered and engraved alarm setting disc and off-set ringed winding square, all framed by four cast brass winged cherubs-head spandrels. The substantial plates united by six knopped and ringed pillars, single gut fusee to a knife edge verge escapement, repeating the hours and quarters on a pair of bells, and sounding the alarm on a third bell. The backplate with single line border framing the symmetrical pattern of elaborate foliage and six flowerheads, signed in a foliate bordered cartouche Henry Jones in the Temple. Ticking and repeating. 36cms (14.5ins) high.
The case with tied foliate-bud handle on a low caddy applied with four cast mounts of foliage, scrolls and masks within a finely moulded frame over a moulded cornice, silk-backed gilt-brass sound frets to the front door further set with a pair of escutcheons, glazed panels to the sides, glazed rear door and set on a simple moulded base on button feet. The 6.25-inch square brass dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring intercepted by fancy cruciform half-hour markers emanating from the quarter track, the finely matted centre with decorated blued steel hands, silvered and engraved alarm setting disc and off-set ringed winding square, all framed by four cast brass winged cherubs-head spandrels. The substantial plates united by six knopped and ringed pillars, single gut fusee to a knife edge verge escapement, repeating the hours and quarters on a pair of bells, and sounding the alarm on a third bell. The backplate with single line border framing the symmetrical pattern of elaborate foliage and six flowerheads, signed in a foliate bordered cartouche Henry Jones in the Temple. Ticking and repeating. 36cms (14.5ins) high.
Footnotes
Provenance: The Carl Barnes Collection,
Sotheby's London, Clocks Watches and Scientific instruments, 23rd July 1987, lot 1927.
Henry Jones (1642-1695) was originally apprenticed to Benjamin Hill but quickly turned over to Edward East. He became a Freeman of the Clockmakers Company in 1663, was an Assistant in 1676 and became Master in 1691. During his thirty year working life he took on fourteen apprentices. In October 1692 he matched Edward Easts contribution of £100 to the Clockmakers Charity for "5 poor widows having Annually the Benefitt thereof Forever". He worked from Inner Temple Lane.