Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
Lot 87
A late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating basket-top table clock with alarm Joseph Norris, Amsterdam
2 July 2025, 13:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £12,160 inc. premium
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A late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating basket-top table clock with alarm
Joseph Norris, Amsterdam
The S-shaped handle on a repousse basket decorated with cherubs, masks, shells and floral swags, framed by a moulded cornice over repousse side frets with oval aperture and foliate mounts to the front door, on a moulded base with bun feet. The 6.25 inch square brass dial with winged cherubs head spandrels and silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, the finely matted centre with decorated date aperture, blued steel hands and a silvered alarm-setting disc, signed along the lower edge Joseph Norris, Amsterdam, with latched dial feet. The movement united by latched vase-shaped pillars latched to the frontplate, the verge escapement with short bob pendulum mounted on a knife edge behind a sliding cover on the cock. The strike train with rack system on a single bell for the hours on the hour, the quarters repeated on three graduated bells and hammers on command from either side via a horizontal bar mounted behind the dial. The alarm sounding on the main hour bell. The backplate with single outer line framing a series of symmetrical flowerheads and vines, centred by the florid signature Joseph Norris, Amsterdam. Ticking, striking and repeating. 38cms (14.5ins) high.
The S-shaped handle on a repousse basket decorated with cherubs, masks, shells and floral swags, framed by a moulded cornice over repousse side frets with oval aperture and foliate mounts to the front door, on a moulded base with bun feet. The 6.25 inch square brass dial with winged cherubs head spandrels and silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, the finely matted centre with decorated date aperture, blued steel hands and a silvered alarm-setting disc, signed along the lower edge Joseph Norris, Amsterdam, with latched dial feet. The movement united by latched vase-shaped pillars latched to the frontplate, the verge escapement with short bob pendulum mounted on a knife edge behind a sliding cover on the cock. The strike train with rack system on a single bell for the hours on the hour, the quarters repeated on three graduated bells and hammers on command from either side via a horizontal bar mounted behind the dial. The alarm sounding on the main hour bell. The backplate with single outer line framing a series of symmetrical flowerheads and vines, centred by the florid signature Joseph Norris, Amsterdam. Ticking, striking and repeating. 38cms (14.5ins) high.
Footnotes
Joseph Norris, born in Abingdon Oxfordshire in 1650, was the younger brother of Edward Norris (1637-1726). At age 12, he began an eight-year apprenticeship with Edward. Surviving both the Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666, the brothers relocated from their premises at The Crossed Keys in Lothbury to Dove Court. Following the 1674 peace treaty between England and the Netherlands, Norris moved to Amsterdam, possibly joining Ahasuerus Fromanteel, who had been there since 1667. Norris stayed until 1692, during which time he likely became the first clockmaker in the Netherlands to produce longcase clocks with a "Royal Pendulum."
In Amsterdam, Norris set up his workshop near the Beurs on Damrak and, in 1677, married Alicia Arnold at the English Reformed Church. He soon rose to prominence as one of Amsterdam's leading clockmakers. Returning to Abingdon in 1692, Norris held various public and clerical positions until his death in 1726. He continued clockmaking in his brother's London workshop during his later years. Clocks signed "Joseph Norris London" are either from the pre-Amsterdam period (1670-1675) or his post-Amsterdam years (1692-1696), while those marked "Joseph Norris Amsterdam" date from 1675 to 1692.
reference: Plomp, Dr. R. Spring-driven Dutch Pendulum Clocks 1657-1710, pp. 66, 174-175.
Similar engraving can be seen Sunny Dzik. Engraving on English Table Clocks, pp. 114-115, 118, 134, 136, and 145.
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