A  fine William & Mary period transitional Phase I-II ebony veneered striking and pull-quarter repeating bracket clock by England’s most famous clockmaker.

The 7 x 8-inch rectangular gilt-brass dial is signed Tho. Tompion Londini Fecit to the lower edge. It has Rise/Fall and Strike/Silent in the top corners and finely chased gilt-brass winged cherub spandrels adorning the bottom corners to the engraved silvered chapter ring. It has both Roman and Arabic chapters and Tompion’s sword hilt half-hour markers. The elaborately pierced and finely sculpted blued steel hour and minute hands which are set off by the finely matted centre with its dummy pendulum aperture are typical of his work at this date.

The substantial twin fusee 8-day key wound movement has latched dial feet and further latches for the seven knopped and ringed movement pillars. It has a spring suspended verge escapement with a lenticular shaped brass pendulum bob. The hours are sounded upon a single bell with the quarters repeated via Tompion’s ingenious pull-repeat system. This complex and beautifully designed mechanism operates the quarter hammer and sounds one to three on a further  smaller bell. The backplate with its exquisite foliate engraving is the work of Tompion’s Graver 155. The rectangular reserve below the centre is signed Thomas Tompion Londini Fecit. It had Tompion’s punch number 181 to the centre lower edge of the backplate which was removed by the thieves in the 1990s.

The beautifully proportioned Phase I case has an oak carcass and is veneered in ebony. It has a chased gilt foliate sound fret along the top cross rail at the front and carved wood ebony frets to each side. The chased gilt brass thistle bud carrying handle is typical of those Tompion used at this time.

Date: circa 1691

Height: 13 ¾ in (35 cm) excluding handle

Width: 10 ¾ in (27.25 cm)

Depth: 6 ⅞ in (17.5 cm)

* This clock belongs to a small group of about six Tompion table clocks which mark the transition from his Phase I type square dials with no subsidiary dials to the full Phase 2 type which have taller rectangular dials and cases with two subsidiary dials at the top for strike/silent and rise/fall. One such very similar transitional striking and quarter-repeating table clock is the Churchill Tompion N° 168 and the Tompion N° 182 which we also handled . The ebony veneered case can almost certainly be attributed to the workshop of Jasper  Braem who was Tompion’s cabinet maker at this date.

In 1703 Tompion was elected Master of the Clockmakers’ Company. He is known to have made about 650 clocks, approximately 16-20 clocks a year. Sometime between 1680 and 1685 he devised a numbering system for his clocks and watches which go up to 542. The present clock is remarkably similar to N° 171 illustrated in figure 125 on page 150 in R.W. Symonds’ book. His numbering  system was continued after Tompion’s death by his successor George Graham.

Provenance:

Biggs of Maidenhead Advertisement in Antiques Horology June 1957

A. Lee in the Connoisseur Magazine 1973

Private collection in Warminster, Wiltshire.

Stolen, late 1991

Paulus van Pauwvliet Collection, Amsterdam

Bonhams Auctions, London, July 2024

References:

Dawson, Drover, Parkes, Early English Clocks

Jeremy Evans, Thomas Tompion at The Dial and Three Crowns

Evans, Carter, Wright, Thomas Tompion 300 Years

W. Symonds, Thomas Tompion His Life and Work, TT N° 171 fig.125 p.150,

TT N° 220 fig.120 p.149

Brian Loomes, Clockmakers of Britain, pp.491-492

HW6478