Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, London No. 849

Circa 1825

Sold

10½ inches high

A very fine red marble, silver and ormolu-mounted mantel clock. Sold on May 25th, 1825 CASE The rouge Griotte marble case is formed as a pedestal raised on gadrooned gilt-brass feet and applied to the front with a very well cast foliate ormolu mount. The drum head movement and dial rests on two well-carved marble volute scrolls inlaid with ormolu anthemion mounts. DIAL The dial is solid silver with an engine-turned centre and annular Roman chapter ring signed VULLIAMY LONDON flanking chapter XII which is pierced in the centre by the pendulum regulation square, very fine heart-shaped blued steel hands – the whole dial is framed by an ormolu serpentine ‘ouroboros’ bezel. MOVEMENT The well made four pillar movement has a chain fusee and spring barrel and half deadbeat escapement and is further signed on the backplate Vulliamy London 849 PROVENANCE According to the Vulliamy records this clock was made for Lord Frederick Fitzclarence, Earl of Munster. See image above of Lord Frederick Fitzclarence, by Count D’Orsay, pencil & chalk, dated 1840. George Augustus Frederick Fitz Clarence, 1792-1842 (photographed above) 1st Earl of Munster, was the eldest illegitimate son of King William IV and his long-time mistress Dorothea Jordan. Fitz Clarence served as an army officer during the Peninsular War and in India. His father, though proud of his military record, was deeply concerned about his drinking and gambling, vices to which many of William''''''''s brothers were prone. He was created 1st Earl of Munster, 1st Viscount Fitz Clarence and 1st Baron Tewkesbury on 4 June 1831, and made a Privy Councilor in 1833. The entry for Vulliamy 849 in the Vulliamy workshop records stating “Spring Timepiece in a red marble case to replace one for St. James’s Palace sold to Colonel Fitz Clarence.” The record notes that the silver dial seems to have been used from clock No. 592 and that it cost £2.12.12 to make. Some of the more expensive costs were the marble case made by DAY for £4.00 and the movement made by LAMB for £5.5.