A charming George III period mahogany dial wall timepiece by this well-known Kentish maker.

The circular mahogany case has a moulded outer surround enclosing a hinged brass bezel and glazed door. The lower part of the case is formed with a delicately shaped wooden earpiece, pierced with a fixing hole for securing the clock to the wall, while a further hook is fitted to the top of the case. Access to the movement is provided by two latched doors, one to the right-hand side and a second to the underside.

The 12-inch engraved silvered brass dial dial has bold black Roman numerals for the hours and a double Arabic minute ring numbered 5 to 60 at five-minute intervals; the numerals at the lower part of the dial are engraved inverted, so as to read correctly when the clock is viewed from below or at a distance, a refinement typical of dials intended to hang high on a wall. At the centre is a finely engraved landscape vignette of a windmill flanked by trees, above the engraved motto MIND YOUR BUSINESS. The dial is signed at the base WARREN / CANTERBURY. The clock retains its original pierced and scrolled blued steel hands.

The 8-day timepiece movement has an anchor escapement, wound from the front through the single aperture to the right of the centre. It is regulated by a pendulum with a lenticular brass bob.

The engraving on this clock with its windmill and landscape vignette plus the ‘Mind Your Business’ admonition is wonderfully eccentric and is something we have never seen before on a provincial dial clock.

Date: circa 1800

Overall width: 14 in (35.5 cm)

Height: 15 ¾ in (40 cm)

Depth: 5 ⅞ in (15 cm)

*Warren of Canterbury was from a Kentish clockmaking family working in the city through the late 18th and early 19th centuries, producing both longcase and bracket clocks alongside dial timepieces of this type. Signed examples include an eight-day mahogany longcase clock by James Warren of Canterbury and a mahogany verge bracket clock signed “J. A. Warren, Canterbury.” He is also listed numerous times in Michael Pearson’s Kent Clocks, with a biography on page 239.

HW6493