WEEKLY ESTATE & COLLECTABLE AUCTION Monday, 24 September 2018 - 4:00 PM start
A rare Queen Anne ebonised thirty-hour longcase clock. Robert Rouch
Lot Details
Bristol, early 18th century. The posted countwheel bell-striking movement with anchor escapement and 11 inch square brass dial with herringbone border engraved calendar aperture incorporating pinhole adjustment and rectangular silvered signature plaque with Bristol to the matted centre, within an applied silvered Roman numeral chapter ring with Arabic five minutes and stylised fleur-de-lys half hour markers, with original pierced steel hands and gilt female mask and scroll cast spandrels to angles, the case with silvered wood ball finials and domed caddy to the blind fret fronted box upstand, above moulded cornice with conforming fret to frieze and integral columns to hood door, the trunk with concave throat moulding and lenticle-centred rectangular door, on plinth base with moulded skirt, 220cm high. Provenance: the property of a private collector. Robert Rouch is recorded in Bellchamber's 'Somerset Clockmakers' as working in Bristol circa 1725-55, where he is listed as 'a fine maker'. A single-handed clock by Dennis Chambers of Pucklechurch with identical engraved half-hour markers is illustrated in Darken and Hooper's 'English 30 Hour Clocks Origin & Development 1600-1800' on page 145. The calendar has the unusual feature of pin-hole adjustment for advancing the date at the end of shorter months, a feature normally associated with the workshop of Thomas Tompion and his successor George Graham. The case is a rare survivor and is in good original condition considering its pine construction and was made by a cabinet maker who successfully captured the feel and proportions of a high-end London case of the period.
