Henry Massy, London

Circa 1695

Sold

16½ inches high to the hilt of the handle

An exceptional silver-mounted red turtleshell striking key-plate table clock with very rare subsidiary seconds ring and pull quarter repeat. CASE The case has a silver conjoined scroll handle atop the silver-banded moulded cushion top, with pierced tortoiseshell frets to the friezes at the front and sides, glazed side panels; the front door is elegantly framed with silver mouldings; the base is silver-banded and raised on gadrooned silvered-brass feet. DIAL The 7¼ x 8¼ inch brass dial has silver urn-and-scroll spandrels to each corner and a silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring which is signed Hen Massy London and is engraved with sword hilt half hour and arrow-head half quarter hour markers. Above the chapter XII is a silvered subsidiary pendulum regulation ring and by chapter III is a blued steel lever for strike/not strike; the matted centre is applied with a rare subsidiary silvered seconds ring and the date aperture is embellished with foliate engraving. MOVEMENT The twin fusee movement has five ringed pillars, the going train has a reconverted verge escapement and the strike train strikes the hour on a large bell and the pull quarter repeat chimes on a nest of six bells. The 8 x 9 inch key plate covers the true backplate and is elaborately engraved with foliate scrolls and a grotesque mask and a flowering urn within a wheatear engraved border, with later triangular cover concealing the pendulum suspension. PROVENANCE: Christie’s London, 5 July 2002, lot 89 – sold for £95,000 LITERATURE: AHS, Huygens’ Legacy, The Golden Age of the pendulum clock, Fromanteel Ltd. 2004, item No. 80, pages 230-233 EXHIBITED: Huygens’ Legacy, The Golden Age of the Pendulum Clock, Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, 2004. HENRY MASSY The son of a French Protestant watchmaker, Henry Massy was a Freeman in the Clockmakers'' Company from 1692 and he is recorded as working until at least 1704. SECONDS This clock has the rare features of having both a seconds dial and silver-mounted tortoiseshell case. If that wasn’t enough the movement construction bears all the hallmarks of probably having been a product from Daniel Quare's workshops and then retailed by Henry Massy. KEYPLATE The false back plate – or keyplate - hides the clock’s true backplate and it offers the engraver a blank canvas for embellishment. SILVER-MOUNTED CASE One of the most notable features of this superb clock is its silver mounts. Set against the red of the tortoiseshell, the effect created is one of unparalleled opulence. Silver mounts were reserved by Tompion for his Royal clocks and by Knibb for his special clocks. They were expensive to produce and a luxurious addition to the casework. As such, they were reserved only for the finest pieces, as with the present example.