Height

12¾ inches

Case

The ebony veneered case with cushion moulded top over gilt-brass pierced and engraved gallery frets flanked by four finials and surmounted by a gilt-brass knopped handle on a brass base. The front door with laid-on moulding framing the dial aperture. The glazed sides with matching mouldings below inset d-ended engraved sound frets. The base moulding over turned gilt brass bun feet.

Dial

5½ inch square brass dial, superbly engraved to the border and corners with foliage and hawks heads and inset with a date aperture below VI. The corners with four subsidiary dials, the upper two for strike/silent and pendulum regulation, the lower indicating days and months. The silvered chapter ring with  sword-hilt half-hour markers and cross half-quarters, signed Claudius Du Chesne Londini around VI. The matted centre with three winding holes and mock pendulum aperture.

Movement

The diminutive movement with triple fusees, the central going train with verge escapement, regulation bar and engraved snail, the quarters striking on three bells, the hours rack striking on a further bell. The backplate with delicate scrolling foliage and strapwork centred by an oval vignette engraved with figures of Apollo pursuing Daphne within a wheat ear border and further grotesque masks below supported by two winged caryatids.

Duration

8 days

Provenance

Christies, 5 July 2006, Important Clocks and Marine Chronometers, Lot 148, £93,600.