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Edward East, London. Circa 1668.

Edward East, London. Circa 1668.

A fine and rare Charles II cocuswood-oyster veneered and gilt-brass mounted miniature architectural striking longcase clock with verge escapement

£330,000


Height

5 foot 8 inches (173 cms)

Case

The miniature architectural case with rising hood and a triangular pediment, with a gilt-brass cartouche mount in the tympanum, above the plain frieze, which is supported on multi-piece gilt- brass capped Corinthian columns with matching rear quarter columns. The sides of the hood are glazed, above a deep convex throat moulding and a full width rectangular fielded panel trunk door framed within elaborate mouldings with cocuswood oysters inlaid in lozenge patterns and a gilt-brass eagle-head escutcheon to the door lock. The trunk sides and base with conforming cocuswood inlays, the restored plinth supported on later bun feet.

Dial

The 8 1⁄4 inch square fire-gilded brass dial has four latched feet and is signed along the base Eduardus East Londini within profusely engraved tulips and foliage around the perimeter of the dial. The fine quality matting is centred by an engraved Tudor rose with a square date aperture above chapter VI, and enclosed by the narrow silvered chapter ring with Roman hours and fleur-de-lys half-hour markers, and Arabic outer minutes set within the division ring. The typical early blued steel hands are finely pierced, shaped and well sculpted.

Movement

The early shaped brass plates with concave shoulders are held by six latched and finned baluster pillars. The going train has a reinstated knife-edge verge escapement with short bob pendulum and bolt- and-shutter maintaining power. The strike train is governed by a small brass outside countwheel with a detent slotted through the backplate, lifting to set off the train and striking the hours on a bell above via a vertical steel hammer arbor. The movement is supported on the original seatboard and secured in the early manner, by two iron taper pins into the base pillars.

Duration

8 days

Provenance

Sir John Prestige Collection;

Sotheby’s, London, The SE Prestige Collection, 29 April 1968, lot 68 (£7,000) to Garrard;

Sir James Cayzer Bt., Kinpurnie Castle, Blairgowrie; Christie’s London, 23 May 2012, lot 350 (£323,000);

The Keith Roberts Collection, inventory no.7

Comparative Literature

V, A & A Finch, Edward East (1602–c.1695), Parts 1 and 2, 2017, Antiquarian Horology vol. 38.

Literature

Dawson, Drover and Parkes, Early English Clocks, Woodbridge, 1982, p. 243, plate 327.

Exceptional English Clockwork, The Keith Roberts Collection, 2015, p. 66-75.

Garnier & Hollis, Innovation & Collaboration, 2018, p. 234-235.

Exhibited

London 2018, Innovation & Collaboration, exhibit no.57.

This superb early architectural clock was produced within a few short years of the first conventional longcased clock, The Norfolk Fromanteel of c.1660-62. By this time East was producing verge movements of equal sophistication to his rival and, in this instance, he spared no expense, specifying the unusually small case to be veneered in exotic cocuswood from recently captured Jamaica, laid in oysters within eye-catching lozenge patterns.

Although the term ‘miniature’ is not defined, it is generally used for longcase clocks under six feet high. Standing just 5 foot 8 inches high this clock is small even by the standards of the early architectural period in English pendulum clockmaking.

Illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, ‘Horological Treasures of the Lord Harris Collection’, 2017, pages 30 and 31, are two East clocks held at Belmont House. The first (Inv. H.0054) is a comparable architectural longcase of c.1670 veneered in Central American cocobolo wood, the second (Inv. H.0052) is an ebony veneered architectural table clock. Both have fine dial plate engraving, similarly filling the corners and abutting the edges of the plate, and are comparable with the dial of the present East example.

With tall, concave shouldered, ‘bottle-neck’ plates and pillars latched to the frontplate, this is an archetypal early London weight-driven pattern movement, with a verge escapement and short bob pendulum, striking on the Renaissance system with a long vertical hammer arbor, pivoted and cocked, to engage with the bell above – all of which was first set by Fromanteel’s workshops in the early 1660s. This pattern of manufacture was soon adopted by other clockmakers outside his circle, in this instance the leader of the ‘East School’ and royal clockmaker, Edward East himself.

English Colonial Cocuswood

Cocuswood is a West Indian species indigenous to Cuba and Jamaica. In 1654, Oliver Cromwell launched an attack on Spain’s colonies in the Caribbean. General Venables initially laid siege to the fortified port of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola, but his forces were unsuccessful and soon decimated by disease. Looking for an easy victory following their defeat, Venables sailed for Jamaica, the only Spanish West Indian island that did not have new defensive works. In May 1655, approximately 7,000 English troops landed near Jamaica’s capital, Spanish Town, and as the island’s entire population was only around 2,500, victory was assured.

To set this in context, the Navigation Act of 1651 had ensured that all trade between England and its colonies was restricted to English or colonial shipping, while other European powers imposed similar rules to their own colonies – so that it was not easy for London craftsmen to obtain raw materials from parts of the world not within England’s direct control. At this time, apart from the export of small quantities of exotic woods, Jamaica was a possession of little economic value and it was not until the introduction of sugarcane plantations later in 17th century that it truly prospered. However, for England, Jamaica was to be the dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire and in the following years, Spain repeatedly attempted to recapture it but without success. In 1670, through the Treaty of Madrid, England formerly took possession from Spain and the ensuing period of peace served as an incentive for the expansion of planting.

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Product Description

This superb early architectural clock was produced within a few short years of the first conventional longcased clock, The Norfolk Fromanteel of c.1660-62. By this time East was producing verge movements of equal sophistication to his rival and, in this instance, he spared no expense, specifying the unusually small case to be veneered in exotic cocuswood from recently captured Jamaica, laid in oysters within eye-catching lozenge patterns.

Although the term ‘miniature’ is not defined, it is generally used for longcase clocks under six feet high. Standing just 5 foot 8 inches high this clock is small even by the standards of the early architectural period in English pendulum clockmaking.

Illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, ‘Horological Treasures of the Lord Harris Collection’, 2017, pages 30 and 31, are two East clocks held at Belmont House. The first (Inv. H.0054) is a comparable architectural longcase of c.1670 veneered in Central American cocobolo wood, the second (Inv. H.0052) is an ebony veneered architectural table clock. Both have fine dial plate engraving, similarly filling the corners and abutting the edges of the plate, and are comparable with the dial of the present East example.

With tall, concave shouldered, ‘bottle-neck’ plates and pillars latched to the frontplate, this is an archetypal early London weight-driven pattern movement, with a verge escapement and short bob pendulum, striking on the Renaissance system with a long vertical hammer arbor, pivoted and cocked, to engage with the bell above – all of which was first set by Fromanteel’s workshops in the early 1660s. This pattern of manufacture was soon adopted by other clockmakers outside his circle, in this instance the leader of the ‘East School’ and royal clockmaker, Edward East himself.

English Colonial Cocuswood

Cocuswood is a West Indian species indigenous to Cuba and Jamaica. In 1654, Oliver Cromwell launched an attack on Spain’s colonies in the Caribbean. General Venables initially laid siege to the fortified port of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola, but his forces were unsuccessful and soon decimated by disease. Looking for an easy victory following their defeat, Venables sailed for Jamaica, the only Spanish West Indian island that did not have new defensive works. In May 1655, approximately 7,000 English troops landed near Jamaica’s capital, Spanish Town, and as the island’s entire population was only around 2,500, victory was assured.

To set this in context, the Navigation Act of 1651 had ensured that all trade between England and its colonies was restricted to English or colonial shipping, while other European powers imposed similar rules to their own colonies – so that it was not easy for London craftsmen to obtain raw materials from parts of the world not within England’s direct control. At this time, apart from the export of small quantities of exotic woods, Jamaica was a possession of little economic value and it was not until the introduction of sugarcane plantations later in 17th century that it truly prospered. However, for England, Jamaica was to be the dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire and in the following years, Spain repeatedly attempted to recapture it but without success. In 1670, through the Treaty of Madrid, England formerly took possession from Spain and the ensuing period of peace served as an incentive for the expansion of planting.

Additional information

Dimensions 5827373 cm