Month-going longcase clock of carved mahogany and pinewood, with gilt-brass and brass fittings, the frieze of the hood veneered and painted in colours with flowers. The silvered arched dial signed in black, 'DAVISON / ECCLESHAM', ca. 1775

Month-going longcase clock of carved mahogany and pinewood, with gilt-brass and brass fittings, the frieze of the hood veneered and painted in colours with flowers. The silvered arched dial signed in black, 'DAVISON / ECCLESHAM
Case:
Mahogany and pine. Single Corinthian fluted column to each side of trunk with brass inlay and brass capitals mounted on bracket with brickwork quoins to edge. Trunk door with shaped top, also having detailed escution partially in form of a bird. Trunk top with blind, carved panel below ogival moulding. Sliding hood with free-standing single Corinthian fluted column with brass inlay and brass capitals flanking break-arch glazed door; quarter columns to rear. In-filled swans neck pediment with scrolls and painted wooden panels flanking single central ball and spire finial mounted on squat pedestal in front of box top. Pronounced bombé shape to base with applied carved detail and brickwork quoins to sides. Bracket feet.

Dial:
Break-arch, total height 19¾ inches, central portion 14" inches square. Brass, single sheet of even thickness, all over silvered with foliage engraving to centre. Semi-circular cut-out in break-arch, curved portion engraved with divided band and Arabic numerals 1-29½ for age of moon. Horizontal portion of cut-out with a pair of semi-circles each with engraved representations of the globe, with lines of latitude and longitude. Separate painted moon disc, pivoted at base of arch cut-out, with representations of moon’s disc in form of a pair of circular stylised faces separated by landscape scenes. Large cherub heads spandrels each secured by a single screw located in corners of main dial plate. Screwed to dial plate is the silvered brass chapter ring with engraved minute and seconds band (centre seconds) with a small triangle at and Arabic minute numerals each at five minute intervals, and Roman hour numerals. Immediately within the chapter ring on dial plate are engraved Arabic numerals for the date (1-31) (centre calendar). Signed immediately below 31 of this scale: Davison / Ecclesham[possibly a mistake for Eccleshall]. Four dial feet attached to movement front plate by pinning.

Hands:
Pierced steel hour, minute and centre date; steel centre seconds hand with counterbalancing tail.

Movement:
Brass and steel, weight driven, centre seconds, hour striking, of 8-day duration with dead beat escapement, pendulum regulated. Four pillars each with a central grooved knop, riveted to the backplate, pinned to the front. Rack striking on bell. Brass train wheels with four semicircular crossings; the smaller diameter motion work gears with three-spoked semicircular crossings. Double profiled wheel collets, domed section adjacent to wheel, short cylindrical portion along arbor, excepting escape wheel and pallets, these of double cylindrical profile. Escape wheel and third wheel redder in colour than other train wheels. Adjacent to pinion heads, steel arbors without extended fluting except third. Steel dead beat pallets, spanning 10½ teeth of the centrally located escape wheel, are of the straight-arm variety; one arm of pallet frame and corresponding small portion of pallet arbor are partially cut away to accommodate third arbor. Above current backcock locating screw holes in backplate are vacant threaded holes and steady pin holes. Thread of the current backcock screws does not match that of vacant threaded holes. Elsewhere, various vacant or plugged holes evident in the plates: around the centre seconds tying in with the hour wheel bridge; around train wheels on front plate matching holes plugged at rear plate; adjacent to present lifting piece on front plate.

Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

Given by Eric Browett in memory of his wife

Given by Eric Browett in memory of his wife. Mr Browett gave more than twenty pieces of English furniture, mostly of the second half of the eighteenth century (W.46 to W.74-1937). Most of the pieces were shown together in Gallery 44 on first acquisition (neg. no. 77456).

For a discussion of the whole Browett collection see: Ralph Edwards, 'The Browett Gift of English Furniture at the Victoria and Albert Museum', Country Life, 9 October 1937, p. 380-381.


'The case is in the style of the so-called Lancashire Chippendale. The design probably shows influences of from Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker’s Director…(1754) Typical Lancashire case details of the area include: the swans neck pediment with the built up box behind; the painted decoration on the panels adjacent to the scrolls which in this case are on wood but may be on glass; the brickwork quoins of the trunk; the bracket feet. Loomes uses the term Chippendale reluctantly, arguing that his designs in reality did little more than publicise styles that were already in use prior to the publication of the Director (Allix, C., Mudge Milestones, Antiquarian Horology, Vol.12, No.6, June 1981, pp627-634).

Unusually for an English case is the bombé base to the case, which is more usually associated with Dutch, or French work. Variations of this did appear in Chippendale's Director (plates CXXV and CXXVI).

Provincial features of the dial include the type of moon work, so-called rolling moon, plus the large corner spandrels, whilst northern features include the scrolling foliage engraving to the centre, and the central calendar hand. Centre seconds indication can often be seen on Lancashire clocks.

Regarding dating, the even thickness of the dial most probably resulted from the use of rolled brass which appeared after the middle of the eighteenth century. The size and style of spandrels used in this clock were used at a similar date, whilst the rolling moon with rural scenes evidently came into use after 1760. Movement details could correspond with this period, for example the knopped pillars with turned lines and the double profiled collets with one of the section domed. It is perfectly possible that Davison of Liverpool could have made this clock towards the end of the eighteenth century.

It would seem that the movement has been modified at some time in its history, judging by the presence of plugged or vacant holes, and variations in style between some mobiles. There does not appear to be any evidence from the location of plugged or vacant holes that the movement was anything other than centre seconds, but the presence of such holes is an indication that some repositioning of the train has occurred. The design of the escapement and the shape of the pallet arbor collet are later in style than other components. The presence of flutes in the third arbor, and the redder colour (in comparison with the rest of the train) of the third and escape wheels are likely indicators of replaced mobiles. Possible scenarios: the movement originally had a recoil escapement; the pallets were planted higher than currently; the original gear train was largely planted closer towards the centre than the present train; the striking releasing lever correspondingly moved; the hour wheel bridge was originally mounted more vertically than at present. It may have been the case that in altering the escapement to dead beat, wheels of a larger size than the originals had to be utilised, necessitating the repositioning of the train. Alternatively, the gears may have been replaced owing to wear. The dead beat escapement does give a positive stop-start motion to the very obvious, centre seconds hand, rather than the shuffling motion found with the recoil escapement and this may have been the reason why the escapement was changed.'
Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

By the second half of the eighteenth century there was movement of clock parts (dials in particular) between areas. The brickwork on the quoins of the base that are seen in this clock and related to Lancashire clock-making, are also seen, for instance, on a clock at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, signed 'Barber, Winston'. Winston is a small village in the Lake District. It is likely that clock-makers in small towns and villages would order clock cases from specialist makers.

The key escutcheon on the case door is identical to those on the secretaire W. 23-1937 and relates of an engrave design published in a metalworker's pattern-book in the V&A Collections (E.2324-1910), p. 114. The brass fittings for the columns are also illustrated in the pattern-book, p. 76, nos. 1768-1771. They are marked as a 'Compleat Sett' and priced at 5 shillings and sixpence. The designs 1768 and 1770 are used on the columns on the case itself, the other two being used on the columns flanking the face. Unfortunately, the exact date of the designs is unknown. E.2324-1910 is a compendium of 18th and early 19th-century designs and individual designs are not dated.

From the middle of the 18th century clockmakers working outside London, particularly in the north of England, played an important role in domestic production. Both the quality of their clocks, such as this example, and the quantities produced rivalled the output of the London makers.

The dial has a painted inset showing the phases of the moon and the spandrels are also decoratively painted. The inscription on the dial, 'Davison, Ecclesham' may be a mistake for 'Davison, Eccleshall', as no place with the name of Ecclesham is known.

W.50:1to4-1937