Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
Lot 80
A first half of the 18th century brass-mounted ebony two-tune musical table clock with nine bells and 17 hammers. Stephen Asselin, London
2 July 2025, 13:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£5,000 - £8,000
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A first half of the 18th century brass-mounted ebony two-tune musical table clock with nine bells and 17 hammers.
Stephen Asselin, London
The inverted bell top case with brass banding, surmounted by a knopped handle over a concave-moulded cornice and pierced brass sound frets backed with old silk to the front, sides and back, resting on a moulded base with applied brass band. The 8 inch brass break arch dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with floating half-hour markers, signed between V and VII, flanked by subsidiary dials for strike/silent and chime/no chime, framed by gilt spandrels. The arch with tune selector offering A Minuet or A Rigadoon, the finely matted centre with (now filled) mock pendulum aperture, and shaped date aperture. The substantial movement with six knopped pillars and secured into the case by a pair of brass brackets. The escapement now converted to anchor, striking the hours on a single bell and playing on a nest of nine bells with seventeen hammers. The backplate engraved with scrolls, acanthus leaves, green men and foliate decoration within a wheatear border. Ticking, striking, repeating Sold with two case keys and a winding key. 53cms high (21ins).
The inverted bell top case with brass banding, surmounted by a knopped handle over a concave-moulded cornice and pierced brass sound frets backed with old silk to the front, sides and back, resting on a moulded base with applied brass band. The 8 inch brass break arch dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with floating half-hour markers, signed between V and VII, flanked by subsidiary dials for strike/silent and chime/no chime, framed by gilt spandrels. The arch with tune selector offering A Minuet or A Rigadoon, the finely matted centre with (now filled) mock pendulum aperture, and shaped date aperture. The substantial movement with six knopped pillars and secured into the case by a pair of brass brackets. The escapement now converted to anchor, striking the hours on a single bell and playing on a nest of nine bells with seventeen hammers. The backplate engraved with scrolls, acanthus leaves, green men and foliate decoration within a wheatear border. Ticking, striking, repeating Sold with two case keys and a winding key. 53cms high (21ins).
Footnotes
Stephen Asselin, a prolific and highly skilled clockmaker of Huguenot origin was active circa 1700–1720. He is listed on page 62 of Brian Loomes' Early Clockmakers of Great Britain, and his surviving works are often in rich walnut or ebonised cases with intricate dials and musical movements.
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