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Daniel Quare, London, No.93. Circa 1711.

Daniel Quare, London, No.93. Circa 1711.

An extremely scarce Queen Anne miniature ebony striking and pull-quarter repeating table clock.

£150,000


Height

11 inches (279 mm).

Case

The superbly proportioned and elegant miniature case, ebony veneered onto an oak carcass, and surmounted by a small gilt-brass knopped handle above an inverted bell top. The front door is embellished with laid-on ebony dial aperture frame mouldings, while the arch is flanked by pierced ebony frets. The glazed sides with conforming break-arch apertures and matching frame mouldings, the rectangular rear door inset with break-arch glazing and matching outer frame. The whole resting on a well-defined base moulding above four ebony moulded block feet.

Dial

The 4 by 6 inch break-arch gilt-brass dial is signed Dan: Quare London in cursive script on an oval reserve within the matted centre, with mock pendulum aperture above centre. The silvered chapter ring has Roman hours and Arabic minute numerals with fleur-de-lys half-hour markers and small lozenge half-quarter markers, with pierced blued steel hands. The lower corners of the dial are embellished with cherub’s head spandrels, with corresponding half-spandrels below the top corner subsidiary rings for pendulum regulation and strike/silent, interspersed by foliate and bird decoration by Graver 515, flanking a typical large silvered calendar ring with a matching matted centre.

Movement

The diminutive movement with substantial plates has five typical ring-turned baluster pillars and original chain fusees and spring barrels for the trains; the going train has a restored verge escapement with the spring-suspended pendulum from the brass regulation bar, with snail-cam regulation adjusted via the left subsidiary dial. The strike train governed by a rack and snail and striking on a large bell, the re-instated repeat sounding the quarters on the smaller bell via a steel lever to the backplate. The exceptional backplate, engraved by Tompion’s craftsman, Graver 515, is profusely decorated with birds, scrolls and flowers with a central gadrooned urn, flanked by a pair of bees and eagles, above the elaborate oval cartouche with a cherub’s head and opposing masks signed Dan: Quare London 93, with further scrollwork below, all set within a wheatear border. Fixed to the case with two steel brackets and a screw into the central lower pillar.

Duration

8 days

Provenance

Private collection UK;

Christie’s, Important Clocks, 11 December 2002, lot 77;

Private collection Hampshire, until 2014;

Private collection, London

Literature

Garnier & Carter, The Golden Age of English Horology, 2015, Quare chapter p.260-312, illustrated p.294.

Miniature table clocks by Daniel Quare are exceedingly rare; an un-numbered miniature table clock can be viewed in the Student Clock Room in the British Museum (museum no.1006.2078, Ilbert Collection, Edgar bequest, 1958). Two other miniatures from Quare’s numbered series are, in similarity to this example, decorated by Tompion’s ‘Graver 515’ (see Thomas Tompion 300 Years, Decorative Engraving, p.174-185), but with movements additionally attributed to Tompion’s workshop, these were sold by us in 2015 and 2021; Quare no.62 from the Tom Scott Collection (inventory no.74); and Quare no.47 from the John C Taylor collection (inventory no. 10).

Until c.1704, Quare’s output was entirely square or rectangular dialled and his signatures were usually found on the chapter rings, or within dial decoration outside them. Soon after the introduction of the break-arch dial in c.1702-03, Quare embraced the form. He first applied the break-arch to his pre-numbered table clocks and then his numbered series; there are fewer than six recorded un-numbered break- arch clocks and all continue to be signed on the chapter rings. Quare had an average production, not dissimilar to Tompion’s, of perhaps 11 to 13 clocks per year (see The Golden Age of English Clockmaking, ‘Daniel Quare, Exchange Alley, London’, p.260-313), and the paucity of un-numbered break-arch dial clocks suggests that the introduction of Quare’s new dials and the start of his clock serial numbering were almost concurrent, with numbering probably starting within a year in c.1704/05. Henceforth, with just a few exceptions, all of Quare’s standard numbered clocks had break-arch dials. His signature reserves within the matting were not introduced on his spring clocks until Quare no.39 of c.1707, suggesting that no.93 was perhaps made in c.1711.

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Product Description

Miniature table clocks by Daniel Quare are exceedingly rare; an un-numbered miniature table clock can be viewed in the Student Clock Room in the British Museum (museum no.1006.2078, Ilbert Collection, Edgar bequest, 1958). Two other miniatures from Quare’s numbered series are, in similarity to this example, decorated by Tompion’s ‘Graver 515’ (see Thomas Tompion 300 Years, Decorative Engraving, p.174-185), but with movements additionally attributed to Tompion’s workshop, these were sold by us in 2015 and 2021; Quare no.62 from the Tom Scott Collection (inventory no.74); and Quare no.47 from the John C Taylor collection (inventory no. 10).

Until c.1704, Quare’s output was entirely square or rectangular dialled and his signatures were usually found on the chapter rings, or within dial decoration outside them. Soon after the introduction of the break-arch dial in c.1702-03, Quare embraced the form. He first applied the break-arch to his pre-numbered table clocks and then his numbered series; there are fewer than six recorded un-numbered break- arch clocks and all continue to be signed on the chapter rings. Quare had an average production, not dissimilar to Tompion’s, of perhaps 11 to 13 clocks per year (see The Golden Age of English Clockmaking, ‘Daniel Quare, Exchange Alley, London’, p.260-313), and the paucity of un-numbered break-arch dial clocks suggests that the introduction of Quare’s new dials and the start of his clock serial numbering were almost concurrent, with numbering probably starting within a year in c.1704/05. Henceforth, with just a few exceptions, all of Quare’s standard numbered clocks had break-arch dials. His signature reserves within the matting were not introduced on his spring clocks until Quare no.39 of c.1707, suggesting that no.93 was perhaps made in c.1711.

Additional information

Dimensions 5827373 cm