James Stratton
Director
Lot 71*
A fine and rare mid 18th century miniature brass-bound ebonised timepiece with pull quarter striking and alarm John Ellicott, London
22 June 2021, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £21,500 inc. premium
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A fine and rare mid 18th century miniature brass-bound ebonised timepiece with pull quarter striking and alarm
John Ellicott, London
The case with small foliate-cast handle over a brass-bound inverted bell top, the sides with arched glazed panels framed in brass, as are both doors, on a brass-bound base on cast block feet, the 3.5inch arched brass dial with Roman alarm-setting dial in the arch framed by rare spandrels featuring Roman helmets over the silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with minute track and chamfered quarter hour track around the matted centre, the movement plates measuring 5ins by 3.75ins united by five knopped pillars, the single chain fusee movement with maintaining power to a knife edge verge escapement repeating the hours on a single bell and hammer, followed by the quarters on a rack of three bells and hammers, the alarm sounded via a double-headed hammer mounted within the larger hour bell 29cms (11.5ins) high.
The case with small foliate-cast handle over a brass-bound inverted bell top, the sides with arched glazed panels framed in brass, as are both doors, on a brass-bound base on cast block feet, the 3.5inch arched brass dial with Roman alarm-setting dial in the arch framed by rare spandrels featuring Roman helmets over the silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with minute track and chamfered quarter hour track around the matted centre, the movement plates measuring 5ins by 3.75ins united by five knopped pillars, the single chain fusee movement with maintaining power to a knife edge verge escapement repeating the hours on a single bell and hammer, followed by the quarters on a rack of three bells and hammers, the alarm sounded via a double-headed hammer mounted within the larger hour bell 29cms (11.5ins) high.
Footnotes
John Ellicott was born in 1706, the son of a clockmaker of the same name. He was one of the outstanding clockmakers of the 18th century, producing a large number of high quality clocks for the home market and export, his work was particularly valued by the Spanish Royal family. He developed his own form of temperature compensated pendulum and was instrumental in the perfection of the cylinder escapement. He was clockmaker to King George III, a position which paid £150 per annum. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on the 26th of October 1738 and published articles on clocks and an equation of time table in the Philosophical Transactions for the Society. He supplied portable regulators to astronomers notably; Nevil Maskelyne, Charles Mason and James Cook for the recording of the transit of Venus. Ellicott was a keen astronomer and observed the transit of Venus in 1761 from an observatory built in his home in Hackney. He worked from St Swithins Alley, Royal Exchange, London. He was thus capable of making the highest grade precision timekeepers, the most elaborate 'fancy' clocks with finely cast and chased silver mounts, but also the beautifully proportioned and eminently usable fare such as the current clock.
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