James Stratton
Director
Lot 91
A good late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating basket top table clock timepiece Joseph Windmills, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£3,000 - £5,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A good late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating basket top table clock timepiece
Joseph Windmills, London
The case surmounted by a double S-shaped scrolled handle above a repoussé basket top decorated with cherubs, cornucopia, scrolls, and foliate detailing, all backed in pink silk. The corners of the case set with cast brass urn-shaped finials above a moulded cornice. The front with pierced sound fret backed in pink silk and two long floral-decorated door escutcheons. The sides with rectangular glazed windows, while the back framed by a moulded surround with small brass escutcheon and central glazed panel, on a moulded base and bun feet. The 6.5-inch square brass dial with silvered chapter ring engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, intercepted by unusual half-hour markers. The finely matted centre with mock pendulum aperture and engraved sun pendulum in front of the signature Joseph Windmills, beneath a chamfered calendar aperture with pin slot for easy date adjustment. Four cast winged cherub head spandrels frame the dial, with finely worked blued steel hands, the hour hand particularly delicate and decorative. The movement constructed with five robust, finely turned knopped pillars and powered by a single gut fusee driving a knife edge verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, repeating the quarters and the hour on a pair of bells mounted above. The backplate signed Joseph Windmills London within a fancy cartouche framed by elaborately engraved scrollwork, birds, a basket of fruit and foliage. Ticking and repeating. 38cms (15ins) high.
The case surmounted by a double S-shaped scrolled handle above a repoussé basket top decorated with cherubs, cornucopia, scrolls, and foliate detailing, all backed in pink silk. The corners of the case set with cast brass urn-shaped finials above a moulded cornice. The front with pierced sound fret backed in pink silk and two long floral-decorated door escutcheons. The sides with rectangular glazed windows, while the back framed by a moulded surround with small brass escutcheon and central glazed panel, on a moulded base and bun feet. The 6.5-inch square brass dial with silvered chapter ring engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, intercepted by unusual half-hour markers. The finely matted centre with mock pendulum aperture and engraved sun pendulum in front of the signature Joseph Windmills, beneath a chamfered calendar aperture with pin slot for easy date adjustment. Four cast winged cherub head spandrels frame the dial, with finely worked blued steel hands, the hour hand particularly delicate and decorative. The movement constructed with five robust, finely turned knopped pillars and powered by a single gut fusee driving a knife edge verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, repeating the quarters and the hour on a pair of bells mounted above. The backplate signed Joseph Windmills London within a fancy cartouche framed by elaborately engraved scrollwork, birds, a basket of fruit and foliage. Ticking and repeating. 38cms (15ins) high.
Footnotes
Provenance:
Sotheby's New Bond Street, Fine Watches, Clocks and Mechanical Music, 5 July 2001, lot 270.
Joseph Windmills remains one of the most highly regarded clock and watchmakers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. According to Brian Loomes, he was made Free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1671 and trained numerous apprentices, including his son Thomas, between 1686 and 1695. He was appointed Assistant in 1691, rose to Warden in 1699, and served as Master in 1702, remaining active within the Company until at least 1720. In 1710, he succeeded Thomas Tompion in maintaining the clocks at the Tower of London. A comprehensive study of his life and work is found in J. A. Neale, "Joseph and Thomas Windmills, Clock and Watch Makers 1671–1737", The Antiquarian Horological Society, 1999. A closely related clock by Windmills was sold in these rooms, Fine Clocks & Barometers, 15 December 2009, New Bond Street, achieving £19,200 including premium.