Daniel Quare, London No. 27

Circa 1706

Sold

15 ½ inches high

A very rare ebony striking table clock of the finest quality with pendulum regulation and pull quarter repeat. Case The fabulous quality case has an oak carcass veneered in ebony, the top is surmounted by a fine gilt-brass handle and the dome is applied with the finest quality foliate gilt-brass mounts, the front door has a fine matching pair of bearded mask escutcheons, the glazing is framed by a handsome gilt-brass moulding and in the upper quadrants are two fine Indian mask-and-foliate mounts, the moulded base is raised up on brass feet. Dial The 6 ½ X 9 ½ inch gilt-brass dial is signed Dan Quare London in the matted centre with mock pendulum aperture, the silvered chapter ring has Roman & Arabic numerals and typical finely made blued steel hands, fine quality crown-and-sceptre spandrels lower left and right with the number 27 punched beneath the lower left spandrel; in the arch the three subsidiary rings are for pendulum regulation, date and strike/silent all retaining their original blued steel hands. Movement The very large robust movement has thick brass plates with six huge pillars pinned at the front plate, 2 spring barrels and twin fusees with the original chains; the going train retains the original verge escapement and the strike train strikes the hours with pull quarter repeat on a further bell, the backplate is beautifully engraved with scrolling foliage and a pair of flowering cornucopias above the signature Dan Quare London 27 within a palmette wreath. The present clock is a wonderful ‘A-grade” example of one of Daniel Quare's best table clocks. Daniel Quare was born circa 1648 and died in his lodgings in The Poultry in 1737. His long and illustrious clockmaking life was lived alongside his two main competitors and sometime collaborators Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb. This triumvirate were the driving force behind the ‘golden era' of London clockmaking. Quare's output was prodigious, and much is written about his contacts on the Continent with Noble and Royal families. In order to supply such a variety of clients with varied depth of pockets Quare is acknowledged to have sold three different levels of clock. 1. His very finest clocks, such as the present example, which were made in his workshops and finished to the very highest specification. Such clocks were on a par with Tompion and Knibb's best work and were sold to his wealthiest patrons. 2. His standard clocks, generally made in his workshops, of a very high standard but the cases and dials were not finished to the opulent level as his finest grade A clocks such as the present example. 3. Quare also bought-in stock from other London makers; they were perfectly presentable but of a lower standard, possibly supplied by London workshops the like of Lowndes, Windmills and Gretton. The high-quality case mounts and dial lay-out of the present clock single it out as one of Quare's finest examples. Only one other almost identical example numbered 39 sold in 1968 could be found in saleroom records. This unrecorded table clock was recently discovered on the Continent; the movement with its huge thick pillars retains the original verge escapement and all the fine quality mounts and handle are original. Furthermore, it is numbered No. 27 on both the dial and backplate and is believed to be the earliest extant numbered table clock by Daniel Quare.