| Height | 16¾ inches (424 mm) |
| Case | The case of simplified architectural form with ebonised pearwood veneers onto an oak carcass, the full depth architectural pediment set on either slope with matching raised rectangular panels above a plain frieze, over the unadorned front door that has a fine mitred and raised bolection frame-moulding to the glazing, the pearwood mask behind butt-jointed, with matching mouldings to the glazed side apertures. The fully veneered plain flat back, inset with a pine cross-membered solid back door and fruitwood lip-edge veneer, all resting on the main cyma plinth moulding. |
| Dial | The 8½ inch (216 mm) square brass dial retaining much of its original fire-gilding and with four screw-fixed gilt-brass winged cherub spandrels to the corners, signed along the lower edge Henry Jones in the Temple Fecit in fine early cursive script. The slender silvered chapter ring with inner quarter divisions, Roman hours and fleur-de-lys half-hour marks, the outer Arabic minutes engraved every 5, within the minute division ring. The centre finely matted with high set winding holes and early shaped, sculpted and pierced blacked steel hands. The whole dial secured to the movement via four latched dial feet. |
| Movement | The large but shallow rectangular movement, by now to Fromanteel’s format, with six fine finned vase-shaped pillars, riveted to the backplate and latched to the frontplate, with shallow-shaped fusees with conventional internal-capped barrels; the going train with engraved apron to the knife-edge verge escapement and short bob pendulum, the underdial with centrally-mounted motionwork driving the minute hand; the strike train governed by a small, Tudor rose and Arabic engraved, countwheel mounted high on the backplate and internal detent, striking the hours on a large bell horizontally mounted above. The backplate is otherwise plain, with a central pendulum holdfast, but retains traces of original fire-gilding. The movement rests on two raised blocks within the case, with two early swivel-hinged latches to hold it in situ. |
| Duration | 8 days |
| Provenance | Private collection UK, until sold 2002 by Anthony Woodburn for £77,000; |
| Literature | Huygens’ Legacy, 2004, (illus.) p.68-71 Exhibited: |
| Escapement | Knife-edge verge with short bob pendulum |
| Strike Type | Small outside hour countwheel planted high on the backplate |
| Exhibited | 2004, Holland, Paleis Het Loo, Huygens’ Legacy, exhibit no.26 |
Exhibit № 11. Henry Jones, London, Circa 1665
A fine and rare Charles II ebonised architectural striking table clock
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Henry Jones (c.1642-1695) was an apprentice of the pre-eminent clockmaker Edward East. He is thought to have been the son of William Jones, the vicar of Boldre on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire. He is considered one of the most important English clockmakers of the latter part of the 17th century. Having begun his apprenticeship to Benjamin Hill in August 1654, he was soon advantageously turned over to the celebrated workshops of Edward East. He obtained his Freedom from the Clockmakers’ Company in 1663, and appears to have continued in the service of his master to complete his two years as a journeyman, as was normal practice. Jones subsequently served the Clockmakers’ in various capacities, becoming Assistant from 1676, Warden from 1687 to 1690, and finally Master, in 1691. He made a number of clocks for Charles II, one costing the then vast sum £150 and Loomes in The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain, highlights a series of interesting incidents recorded in the Clockmakers’ Company records.In January 1673-74 he complained that Robert Seigniour had erased his name from a royal clock (or had caused Edward Stanton to do it). Additionally, in November 1678, he was in a special meeting that suspended John Matchet for being a Catholic, and in July 1679 he had a quarrel with the fiery John Nicasius, in which the latter was judged to be wrong.
Between 1664 and 1693 he had fourteen apprentices including his two sons William and Henry, and if the number of apprentices taken by Jones can be read as a barometer of his workshop’s success, he was prosperous; an average clockmaker would take four or five, while makers such as Daniel Quare had fifteen and Thomas Tompion had no fewer than twenty-three. In the same year that his will was dated, 1692, he matched Edward East’s contribution of £100 to the Clockmakers Company for 5 poor widows having Annually the Benefitt thereof Forever. Henry Jones died at the age of sixty-three in 1695, seemingly in the same year as his master, and he was buried in the church of St. Dunstans in the West, Fleet Street. Although the church was rebuilt in the 1830s, there remains on the north side of the chancel, an expensive carved stone memorial plaque originally erected by his wife Hannah. Interestingly, she then continued his business, taking one further apprentice in 1696/7, and at least one clock is known which is inscribed on the backplate, Hannah Jones Ye widdow of Henry Jones London.
Jones’s style was much influenced by that of his famous master, and we can safely assume that the relative progression in pendulum clockmaking shown by East was concurrently or very soon reflected in Jones’s work as well. Where he first worked independently of East is unknown but he probably continued to make for him, and his earliest clocks are simply signed Henricus Jones Londini. These are very much in the early East school style, with narrow set plates pinned at the back, remote motionwork, almost conical fusees, flanged barrels and cocked detent and hammer arbors.
By the time that this, still very early example, was made, the East school and Jones had moved over to Fromanteel’s format of movement; with plates latched to the front, centrally set motionwork to drive the minute hand, ‘conventional’ shaped fusees and capped barrels, internal detent and hammer arbor mounted between the plates. However we can see here that Jones retains vestiges of the old school; using narrow set plates with vase-shaped pillars, while there was gilding originally applied to the entire movement. Thus this movement appears to have been made right at the start of the adoption of Fromanteel practices by East’s followers, possibly in c.1665. Interestingly, it is signed in the Temple, perhaps advertising for the first time his move to his new subsequently famous address. These premises now long gone, were believed to have been situated somewhere inside the gateway at the top of Inner Temple Lane, off Fleet Street.
Product Description
Henry Jones (c.1642-1695) was an apprentice of the pre-eminent clockmaker Edward East. He is thought to have been the son of William Jones, the vicar of Boldre on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire. He is considered one of the most important English clockmakers of the latter part of the 17th century. Having begun his apprenticeship to Benjamin Hill in August 1654, he was soon advantageously turned over to the celebrated workshops of Edward East. He obtained his Freedom from the Clockmakers’ Company in 1663, and appears to have continued in the service of his master to complete his two years as a journeyman, as was normal practice. Jones subsequently served the Clockmakers’ in various capacities, becoming Assistant from 1676, Warden from 1687 to 1690, and finally Master, in 1691. He made a number of clocks for Charles II, one costing the then vast sum £150 and Loomes in The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain, highlights a series of interesting incidents recorded in the Clockmakers’ Company records.In January 1673-74 he complained that Robert Seigniour had erased his name from a royal clock (or had caused Edward Stanton to do it). Additionally, in November 1678, he was in a special meeting that suspended John Matchet for being a Catholic, and in July 1679 he had a quarrel with the fiery John Nicasius, in which the latter was judged to be wrong.
Between 1664 and 1693 he had fourteen apprentices including his two sons William and Henry, and if the number of apprentices taken by Jones can be read as a barometer of his workshop’s success, he was prosperous; an average clockmaker would take four or five, while makers such as Daniel Quare had fifteen and Thomas Tompion had no fewer than twenty-three. In the same year that his will was dated, 1692, he matched Edward East’s contribution of £100 to the Clockmakers Company for 5 poor widows having Annually the Benefitt thereof Forever. Henry Jones died at the age of sixty-three in 1695, seemingly in the same year as his master, and he was buried in the church of St. Dunstans in the West, Fleet Street. Although the church was rebuilt in the 1830s, there remains on the north side of the chancel, an expensive carved stone memorial plaque originally erected by his wife Hannah. Interestingly, she then continued his business, taking one further apprentice in 1696/7, and at least one clock is known which is inscribed on the backplate, Hannah Jones Ye widdow of Henry Jones London.
Jones’s style was much influenced by that of his famous master, and we can safely assume that the relative progression in pendulum clockmaking shown by East was concurrently or very soon reflected in Jones’s work as well. Where he first worked independently of East is unknown but he probably continued to make for him, and his earliest clocks are simply signed Henricus Jones Londini. These are very much in the early East school style, with narrow set plates pinned at the back, remote motionwork, almost conical fusees, flanged barrels and cocked detent and hammer arbors.
By the time that this, still very early example, was made, the East school and Jones had moved over to Fromanteel’s format of movement; with plates latched to the front, centrally set motionwork to drive the minute hand, ‘conventional’ shaped fusees and capped barrels, internal detent and hammer arbor mounted between the plates. However we can see here that Jones retains vestiges of the old school; using narrow set plates with vase-shaped pillars, while there was gilding originally applied to the entire movement. Thus this movement appears to have been made right at the start of the adoption of Fromanteel practices by East’s followers, possibly in c.1665. Interestingly, it is signed in the Temple, perhaps advertising for the first time his move to his new subsequently famous address. These premises now long gone, were believed to have been situated somewhere inside the gateway at the top of Inner Temple Lane, off Fleet Street.
Additional information
| Dimensions | 5827373 cm |
|---|
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