| Height | 6 foot 10 inches (209 cms) |
| Case | The ebony veneered special Type 1 case, attributed to Jasper Braem, with convex throat mouldings, panelled sides and trunk door with brass-framed oval lenticle, an eagle head escutcheon and foliate cast acanthus spandrels. There is a beautiful cast and chased gilt-brass fruiting swag to the convex moulding below the hood, which has applied Doric columns and smaller swags to its front and sides beneath a gilt-brass interlaced foliate frieze with winged cupid heads applied to the corners. The rising hood has a shallow domed top with five brass finials and retains its original spoon locking catch and latch spring. The plinth has cavetto/ovolo mouldings and four substantial gilt-metal bun feet. |
| Dial | The 10 inch square gilt-brass dial is enclosed by an archetypal double-wheatear engraved border and signed Tho=Tompion Londini Fecit in a rectangular reserve along the base. The fine matting extends to the outer minute ring of the skeletonised chapter-ring which has small finely fretted fleur-de-lys half- hour markers, with subsidiary seconds ring, date aperture to the centre and dot-marked winged-cherub spandrels to the corners. The typical Tompion blued-steel hands are well pierced and sculpted, and the dial is fixed using four latched dial feet. |
| Movement | The substantial movement has 6 3⁄8 by 8 3⁄8 inch plates held by six finned baluster pillars with steel riveted latches, five wheel trains for month-going and the barrels reverse wound. The going train has an anchor escapement with bolt-and-shutter maintaining power, and a typical multi-piece brass rod lenticular pendulum with a calibrated silvered rating nut. The strike train is governed by an outside countwheel for the Roman notation striking on two bells, with additional half-hour passing strike on a third, all with typical Tompion steel springs and stops. The trains are driven by two original brass-cased weights with typical multi-piece pulleys. The whole movement is mounted on taper pins through the two lower pillars and secured by an L-bracket to the backboard. |
| Duration | One month |
| Provenance | Sydney Exshaw (and sold by order of his executors Christie’s, London, 23 June 1960, lot 22 to Partridge); The Samuel Messer collection (and sold by order of his executors Christie’s, London. 5 December 1991, lot 36); The Tom Scott collection, inventory no.90; The Keith Roberts collection, inventory no.11 |
| Literature | Dawson, Drover & Parkes, Early English Clocks, 1982, p. 202, 272 and 273, pl 270, 370, 371 and 372. Evans, Carter & Wright, Thomas Tompion 300 years, 2013, p. 446 & 447. Garnier & Carter, The Golden Age of English Horology, 2015, p. 48-51. Exceptional English Clockwork, The Keith Roberts Collection, 2015, p.94-103. Garnier & Hollis, Innovation & Collaboration, 2018, p. 286-289. |
| Exhibited | Masterpiece London 2015, Highlights of the Tom Scott Collection, inv. no. 90, exhibit no. 2. London 2018, Innovation & Collaboration, exhibit no. 81. |
The Roman-Striking Tompion, Circa 1680.
A highly important Charles II ebony and gilt-brass mounted special Type 1 Roman striking month-going longcase clock by Thomas Tompion, the case attributed to Jasper Braem (fl.1661 – d.1696).
£795,000
This unique clock was specially commissioned and made prior to the start of Tompion’s serial numbering. Tompion went on to use Roman striking on only one other special longcase, the Boxwood Tompion Night Clock, which also has the only other known skeletonised chapter ring in his oeuvre.
Although the case, movement and dial share distinct resemblance to the work of the Knibb family, the execution and finishing of each element is typical of Tompion’s own productions. Close study of the case in comparison with other special examples, reveals that this too was made by Tompion’s own casemaker. At this time, the royal cabinetmaker, Jasper Braem, was his co-tenant in Water Lane and, in similarity to other examples, the individual nature and handling of this case makes it most likely to have been produced in-house by Bream. As well as distinctive mouldings, it is impressively adorned with mounts which Tompion used on a small number of other special longcases, that were also commissions: the Astrolabe, the Royal Exchange and the Drayton Tompions.
For the past 60 years, this clock has formed a part of three of the most significant private collections of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries.
Product Description
This unique clock was specially commissioned and made prior to the start of Tompion’s serial numbering. Tompion went on to use Roman striking on only one other special longcase, the Boxwood Tompion Night Clock, which also has the only other known skeletonised chapter ring in his oeuvre.
Although the case, movement and dial share distinct resemblance to the work of the Knibb family, the execution and finishing of each element is typical of Tompion’s own productions. Close study of the case in comparison with other special examples, reveals that this too was made by Tompion’s own casemaker. At this time, the royal cabinetmaker, Jasper Braem, was his co-tenant in Water Lane and, in similarity to other examples, the individual nature and handling of this case makes it most likely to have been produced in-house by Bream. As well as distinctive mouldings, it is impressively adorned with mounts which Tompion used on a small number of other special longcases, that were also commissions: the Astrolabe, the Royal Exchange and the Drayton Tompions.
For the past 60 years, this clock has formed a part of three of the most significant private collections of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries.
Additional information
| Dimensions | 5827373 cm |
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