An exceptional Charles II ebony veneered three-month going Roman striking longcase clock with 1 ¼ seconds pendulum by Joseph Knibb, London

The classic slender proportioned case has a rising hood with tapered ebony columns and gilt-brass Doric capitals and bases which flank the long glazed dial side windows. The frieze above has typical delicate Knibb pierced ebony frets, all surmounted with a shallow caddy top and three brass ball finials. The full length door is panelled as are the sides of the trunk. The case stands on four (later) brass bun feet.

The 10 ¼ inch square gilt-brass dial is signed Joseph Knibb London along the lower edge. The replaced silvered chapter ring has Roman hours and individual outer Arabic minutes in full, 1 to 60. The hour at 4 o’clock is indicated by IV for Roman notation, rather than the usual IIII, and flanked by four chased gilt-brass cherub spandrels. The delicate matted centre has low positioned winding holes and the finely sculpted blued steel hands are of Knibb’s own design.

The special three month duration movement has arched and shouldered plates which are held together by six double baluster pillars and is secured to the front plate by original latches. The going train has a restored anchor escapement and Knibb’s double backcock and wing-nut pendulum suspension system for fine regulation. The restored two-piece 1 ¼ seconds pendulum with centre swivel latch connects the two brass rods, the lower one with a typical butterfly nut above the bob for coarse regulation. The Roman striking train is controlled by a small count wheel mounted on the backplate. It strikes on two bells: the chapters with I are struck individually on the smaller hemi-spherical bell and the chapters V & X are sounded once and twice respectively on the larger bell. The movement is supported on its original oak seatboard with the original steel spikes running through the base pillars.

This important clock belongs to a small group of only six recorded ebony three-month duration longcases by Joseph Knibb which are Roman striking with a 1 ¼ seconds pendulum.

Height: 83 in (214 cm)

Width: 14 ½ in (37 cm)

Depth: 8 ¼ in (21 cm)

* Joseph Knibb was the most famous member of the celebrated Knibb clockmaking family and was born circa 1640. He was apprenticed to his cousin Samuel in about 1655 and after serving seven years worked first in Oxford and then moved to London in 1670 where he was made free of the Clockmakers’ Company. He must soon have built up a good reputation for himself as it is recorded that he supplied a turret clock for Windsor Castle in 1677 and payments were made to him in 1682 on behalf of King Charles II.

He also made many longcase and table clocks for domestic use. Like Tompion, Knibb’s mind never seems to have rested, his talent for innovation and invention included a great variety of different striking mechanisms. These included his Roman notation strike (denoted by his use of IV instead of IIII), the double-six and grande sonnerie.  His Roman striking  three-month, 1 ¼ seconds, ebony longcase clocks are probably the rarest and most valuable of all his clocks.

Provenance: Acquired by S. Sainsbury from Ronald A. Lee 5^th September 1968.

                     Simon Sainsbury Collection, Christie’s 18^th June 2008, £145,250 plus premium.

                     A private collector in the USA until 2022.

References: Dawson, Drove & Parkes, Early English Clocks, pl 373 p. 275, pl.272 p. 203

                      R. Lee, The Knibb Family Clockmakers, Byfleet, 1964, pp.36-37, pls. 31, 32, 33
                      D. Roberts, British Longcase Clocks, Atglen, 1990, pp.67, 68, figs.96, 97
                      J. Darken (ed.), Horological Masterworks: English Seventeenth Century Clocks from Private Collections, Ticehurst, 2003, pp.115, 116
                      H. van Ende et al, Huygen's Legacy, The Golden Age of the Pendulum Clock, Castletown, 2004, pp.156, 157

                       A Charles II ebony-veneered month duration Roman striking longcase clock of comparable design is illustrated in P. G. Dawson, The Iden Collection, Woodbridge,1987, pp.142-143

HW6223