QUARTER CHIMING MONTH-GOING LONG CASE CLOCK
Japanned, pine carcase
Inscribed 'Markwick, Londini', made in about 1725

Case:
Japanning on pine carcase. Rectangular trunk door occupies most of trunk front. Lenticle with moulded edge. Concave moulding below hood flanked by carved decorative brackets. Sliding hood with caddy top, flanked by carved wooden finials in the form of flowers in an urn mounted on pedestals. Front of dome with arched fret above cornice. Brass side frets echo design in lower hinged side doors. Break-arch front with carved, blind frets to frieze and cornice with moulded and concave sections. Free-standing brass-capped columns to front flank break-arch glazed door; capped quarter columns to rear. Hood sides with rectangular, hinged doors for accessing the movement, having decorative brass inserts of a design reminiscent of decorative engraving in the arch of the dial. Rectangular base above double plinth.

Dial:
Brass, with broad break-arch, total height 19 inches, central portion 14 inches square. Centre matted, ringed decoration to the three winding squares and seconds aperture. Markwick London engraved on semicircular area between winding squares and central hole for hands. Urn spandrels secured variously by either a single, or pair of screws. In latter case vacant, threaded holes present, likewise, centres of such doubly screwed spandrels not threaded. Pinned to the dial plate is the silvered brass chapter ring with engraved minute and quarter-hour bands both having at each hour inward pointing arrows. Arabic minute numerals at intervals of five, Roman hour numerals and small fleur-de-lis half quarters. Floating engraved fleur-de-lis half hour markers are situated above small lozenges on the quarter hour band. Pinned to the dial plate below "XII" is the subsidiary seconds ring of silvered brass, with engraved seconds band and Arabic seconds numerals at intervals of five; its diameter is such that very little space exists between bottom of its ring and the central hole for the hands. Foliate engraving in arch flanks calendar, consisting of a silvered ring with two divided bands, the outer with engraved Arabic numerals, 1-31. Lower part of ring partially cuts into the main chapter ring at "XII" resulting in the Arabic 60 in the minute chapter being reduced in size. Date indicated by hand. Two small triangular areas lie between main chapter ring and calendar within which are slots, proper left for strike/no strike (hours), proper right, the same for the quarters. Four dial feet, each with a single turned fin, attached to movement front plate by pinning.

Hands:
Pierced steel minute and hour. Plain seconds hand. The pierced calendar with profiled centre and tail.

Movement:
Brass and steel, weight driven, quarter chiming of month duration, with recoil escapement, pendulum regulated. Six finned pillars each with central knop, riveted to the backplate, the outer four pinned to the front, central two latched. Outside of front plate with laying-out scribe lines. Hour striking on a bell controlled by inside rack, snail on star wheel with jumper; quarter chiming with six hammers controlled by outside rack, the gathering pallet in the form of a brass disc carrying single pin. Brass train wheels with four semicircular crossings; where visible, wheels with scribed lines. Domed wheel collets. Steel arbors barrel-shaped with short pinion heads except striking fly. Steel recoil anchor pallets spanning 7½ teeth attached to pallet arbor by double-profiled brass collet; crutch pinned to this arbor. Calendar drive starts from 24-hour pinion (mounted on hour wheel), meshing with a large diameter wheel with four tapering crossings. This meshes with a smaller crossed out (three spokes) gear mounted on a cock and stud at top of movement plate, causing it to rotate once a day. An equally sized crossed out wheel carrying a pin, mounted on a post screwed to the underside of the dial, meshes with this engaging daily with a 31 saw-toothed wheel located directly behind the calendar scale in the arch. Mounted on a cock, its arbor extends through a hole in the dial and carries the calendar hand for indication. Chime pulley is substantial with a broad band, four semi-circular crossings and a substantial steel stirrup. Pendulum with steel rod, brass-cased pendulum bob and octagonal rating nut. Alterations include the following: hour wheel bridge with additions in yellow brass and small areas cut away; adjacent vacant steady pin holes in front plate. A number of striking and chiming levers with lead solder or pieces of brass of a redder colour; star wheel and jumper in a yellow brass, the jumper spring in the redder material, as are a number of striking levers. Striking hammer arbor has a large diameter to its centre. Back cock with a vacant hole on either side of steady pins; additionally, vacant steady pin and threaded holes in backplate where backcock located. Pendulum chops of backcock redder in colour than main body. Front and to lesser extent back plates with vacant and plugged holes particularly in proximity to chime train. Chime warning and fly missing. Quarter bell standard is missing. On front plate on striking side are a vacant steady pin and threaded hole.

Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

Purchased with funds from the Bryan Bequest

Purchased for £300 (from funds from the Bryan Bequest) [RP 35/4521]
Purchased from Walter J. Iden, Keswick Road SW15

Remarks:
The japanned clock case appeared towards the end of the seventeenth century but reached its popularity during the eighteenth century and despite declining, underwent a revival towards the end of that century. After c.1730 free-standing hood columns were becoming the norm and also by this date the break-arch was in full use. That it has a caddy top rather than pagoda puts it in the earlier period for japanned cases.

The ringed decoration to the winding holes, presence of half quarters and floating half hour markers are indicative of the first quarter of the eighteenth century; these features would begin to wane in popularity during the 1730s. The spandrels were in use from c.1725 to c.1740. Looking at the movement, the internal rack was generally little used after 1730 on London work, whilst the use of rack for both striking and chiming appeared early in the eighteenth century. The shape of collets and the presence of finned pillars whilst not definitive are more usually associated with the earlier years of the eighteenth century.

The movement appears to have been modified: the vacant holes, and the unused steady pin holes in the backplate indicate that modification to the escapement had occurred, although this is not unknown in longcase work, quite possibly the consequences of wear.

The hour wheel bridge appears to have been built up. One possible explanation is that the star wheel and jumper for the hour wheel were later additions, and in their fitting, the large diameter calendar drive wheel had to be re-located further out from the front plate for clearance. To enable the 24-hour pinion (itself mounted on the hour wheel) still to mesh with the calendar wheel, it too had to be moved further out, hence the building up of the hour wheel bridge.

The cut-outs in the hour wheel bridge may have been vestiges of a previous arrangement of the striking and chiming levers. The cut-out was there to allow the quarter chime lifting lever access to the cannon pinion. This, their redder colour and the additions to the chiming and striking levers would seem to tie in with the small slots (for strike/no strike for the hours and quarters) in the dial plate at the base of the break-arch. These slots break a little way into the arch engraving. It may have been the case that such selectors and levers were later additions for an owner’s convenience: the chimes and strikes could be silenced at will. Furthermore, winding would have been less onerous with the chimes silenced, the substantial proportions of chime pulley clearly indicating a massive driving weight.

Subject to the modifications outlined above, much of the wheelwork would seem to be in ‘original’ condition.

The opening side doors of the hood were fitted to allow easy access to the movement presumably for adjustments to the chime or strike trains without the need to remove the massive hood.

Dawson illustrates this clock on page 252/3 in his book on the Iden Collection. Clearly shown are decorative brackets flanking the base and now absent from W.49-1935 (Foulkes, R.K., Notes).

Walter Iden, an engineer, collected mainly during the fourth decade of the twentieth century. Iden housed his collection in his ground floor flat in Keswick Road, Putney making photographs of the cases but not the movements, the photos being mounted in albums, his earliest being dated 1936. During the Second World War, bobs fell nearby damaging the flat only; shortly after, Iden lost interest and disposed of the clocks. He died in 1952 aged 79 (Foulkes, R.K., Notes).

Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

The case of this clock is painted, or ‘japanned’, to imitate the more expensive imported lacquer from Japan and China, and is decorated with Chinese figures, vases and flowering shrubs. Japanning involved applying coats of coloured varnish over a gesso (whiting paste) base layer, which was often built up in relief for a three-dimensional effect. The tall, flat surfaces of long-case clocks provided an ideal opportunity to add such decoration to a domestic room.

The movement has three trains, all weight-driven, with grooved drums.

The case is of pinewood, decorated with red and gold lacquer on a peacock blue lacquer ground. The finials and brackets are of carved and silvered wood.

James Markwick the Younger, who made this long-case clock in about 1725, was a member of the Clock Makers Company in London, and became master of the Company in 1720.

W.49:1 to 4-1935