James Stratton
Director
Lot 99
A good late 17th century ebony veneered striking table clock John Pepys, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£4,000 - £6,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A good late 17th century ebony veneered striking table clock
John Pepys, London
The caddy-top case with well-cast applied pierced mounts and acanthus leaf scroll handle above a glazed door with applied gilt escutcheons and pierced sound fret, the sides with matching sound frets and rectangular glazed apertures. The 6-inch gilt brass dial fitted with winged cherub head spandrels and a silvered chapter ring with Roman and Arabic numerals intercepted by cruciform half hour markers, surrounding a matted centre with calendar aperture above VI and a mock pendulum aperture above, with Strike/Not Strike lever at 3 o'clock. The substantial twin fusee movement with six pinned knopped pillars and later anchor escapement (converted from verge) striking the hours on a bell, the finely scroll-engraved backplate signed John Pepys, London and centred by a stylised dolphin motif. 38cms (15ins) high.
The caddy-top case with well-cast applied pierced mounts and acanthus leaf scroll handle above a glazed door with applied gilt escutcheons and pierced sound fret, the sides with matching sound frets and rectangular glazed apertures. The 6-inch gilt brass dial fitted with winged cherub head spandrels and a silvered chapter ring with Roman and Arabic numerals intercepted by cruciform half hour markers, surrounding a matted centre with calendar aperture above VI and a mock pendulum aperture above, with Strike/Not Strike lever at 3 o'clock. The substantial twin fusee movement with six pinned knopped pillars and later anchor escapement (converted from verge) striking the hours on a bell, the finely scroll-engraved backplate signed John Pepys, London and centred by a stylised dolphin motif. 38cms (15ins) high.
Footnotes
John Pepys (active circa 1673–1720) was a London clock and watchmaker, admitted to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1680 following his apprenticeship under John Harris. Over the course of his career, Pepys established a strong reputation for fine craftsmanship and reliability, training his sons John and Samuel in the trade and thereby continuing the family's horological lineage. He served as Master of the Clockmakers' Company in 1707 and is believed to have remained active until around 1720. His work is recorded by both Brian Loomes and F.J. Britten as representative of late seventeenth-century London clockmaking at its finest.
The above lot displays clear stylistic influences from the great Thomas Tompion. The case is of notably masculine form, with well-defined mouldings, while the carrying handle is identical to that found on the Tompion table clock, lot 80 in this sale. The door escutcheon carries distinctly Tompion-esque motifs, and the dial—with its cruciform half-hour markers—further reinforces the aesthetic connection.