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Circa 1807
Sold
27cm (10.5ins) high
A very rare documented ebony veneered striking mantel clock. Sold on 10th September 1807 to Thomas Tatham of Marsh & Tatham, London’s leading cabinet makers. CASE The rectangular case with elaborate pierced wood side frets, ivory escutcheon and gilt brass liner to the front door, on a plain plinth base. DIAL The 7-inch square Roman and Arabic dial is signed Vulliamy London 442 across the centre and with subsidiary dials in the upper corners for strike/silent and for pendulum regulation, with heart shaped hands. MOVEMENT The signed and numbered movement with thick plates united by five knopped pillars, twin chain fusees, the going train with half-deadbeat escapement, strike train with rack striking on a bell, the backplate signed Vulliamy London 442, front plate further punch numbered 442. Sold together with the original numbered brass crank winding key with rosewood handle and projecting square for subsidiary hand setting. PROVENANCE The severe appearance of this clock is probably unique in Vulliamy's output, so it is worth noting that it corresponds precisely to the description of No.442 given in Vulliamy's records, when it was sold to Mr Tatham of Mount Street, London, on 10 September 1807. The relevant entry in the Day Book described the clock as: One of best eight day spring clocks Vulliamy 442, in square black ebony case with openwork sides and back @ 16 gns Although the case may be unique, the clock as a whole can be related to a small series of bracket clocks made by Vulliamy at around this time, including No. 440, which was sold just two months earlier. The series seems to have been an attempt by the firm to produce a range of bracket clocks in the newly fashionable Greek Revival style, but at a modest price (15 guineas or £15-15s). It is clear from entries in one of the surviving Vulliamy Clock Books [Note 3] that the case of No. 442, like those of the related series, was made by Thomas Brownley of 68 King Street, Golden Square, an independent cabinetmaker frequently employed by Vulliamy for non-standard work. He charged £2-16s which, even with an extra 6s-10d for the decorative frets, was less than half his charge for the more elaborate cases of the other clocks. On the other hand, the two-train movement of No. 442 was, as might be expected, significantly more expensive, being charged at £8-12s by Jackson, Vulliamy's usual movement supplier at this date, compared to £5-16s for the timepiece movements of the others. These cost comparisons highlight the apparent incongruity of putting a high quality movement in such a simple (though well-finished) case. There can be little doubt that the clock was specially commissioned, and a possible explanation for the plain case is that it was designed to be fitted into a larger decorative scheme. It is therefore worth looking more closely at the purchaser Thomas Tatham, brother of the well-known architect Charles Heathcote Tatham, and a leading partner in the firm of Marsh & Tatham, the most fashionable London firm of cabinetmakers and upholsterers at this time, whose customers included the Prince of Wales at Carlton House and other wealthy patrons This raises the possibility that the firm planned to fit the clock into a scheme of interior decoration being carried out for one of their customers. On the other hand, at just this time the company were also making extensive improvements to their own business premises at 13-14 Mount Street. This work included the installation of a new shop-front designed by John Linnell Bond, which was to be described, a few years later, as the 'first shop front, acknowledged to have been worthy the name of architecture, and from which we may date the origin of all the expense and splendour that has succeeded, in adorning the houses of business.' It may well be that Vulliamy No. 442 was intended to form part of the lavish embellishments which the partners were carrying out to their Mount Street premises. When considering the possibility of a Royal commission, the 1807 date recorded in the Vulliamy Day Book becomes significant. Both Vulliamy and Thomas Tatham were working at the Prince Regent’s principal London residence Carlton House at exactly this time, and it is possible that the clock may have been made for one of the rooms that were undergoing refurbishment. In a letter of June 1808, Tatham revealed that over the previous two years he had provided furnishings and goods to the Prince to the value of approximately £30,000, including chandeliers, furniture, wall hangings and carpets .This amount equates to roughly £1.8 million today giving an idea of the scale of the work that Thomas Tatham was involved with at Carlton House; it also makes the suggestion of a cabinet maker providing a clock seem less unlikely. Indeed only the previous year, Marsh and Tatham are recorded supplying a number of pieces of ebony and ivory veneered furniture including a set of four bookcases with ebony marquetry in the Greek revival style, for the library at Carlton House at a cost of £820. Whilst all are of a more elaborate design than the offered lot, the adoption of the Greek style and the prolific use of ebony in the library scheme, suggest a link between the two. Since the clock is numbered, it may even be possible to trace it in the Royal Accounts for the library at Carlton House. Although principally occupied by their Royal commissions, Marsh and Tatham were working for a number of other important clients at this time. Between 1806 and 1810 they supplied a suite of ebony dining furniture for Sir Henry Fetherstonhaugh of Uppark, as well as library furnishings for Sir Henry Harpur of Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. In 1807 the firm invoiced the 3rd Earl of Mansfield at Kenwood and supplied a bath chair to the 3rd Earl of Egremont at Petworth. Conceivably any of these individuals could have bought the Vulliamy clock from Thomas Tatham, but at this point it seems most likely that the clock was either for Tatham’s personal use at his Mount Street premises, or for one of the newly refurbished rooms at Carlton House.