AFA Summer 2019

Antiques & Fine Art 87 2019 Fig. 7: Tall-case arch-dial clock, Philadelphia, 1732–1736. Cherry with hard pine. H. 106⅞, W. 20⅝, D. 10½ in. Case attributed to the shop of John Head; eight-day tide dial movement by Peter Stretch. Private collection. Photography by Sotheby’s. Fig. 8: The Anthony Morris tall-case clock, Philadelphia, 1734. Maple with hard pine. H. 100½, W. 21, D. 10½ in. Arched case by the shop of John Head and debited in his account book, page 62, left, on April 3, 1734, to Samuel Powell, Sr. (1673–1756) for delivery to his son-in-law, Anthony Morris IV (1705–1780); arched eight-day tide dial movement by Peter Stretch. Private collection. Photography by Winterthur Museum, Library, & Garden. similar is known in Britain or America. As more examples of Head’s clock cases are documented, a more precise chronology of their manufacture may emerge. 1. Jay Robert Stiefel, in collaboration with Alan Andersen and Christopher Storb, previously wrote about John Head in this magazine. See “The John Head Project, Part I: Documenting His Work.” Antiques & Fine Art 9, no. 1 (2008)): 190–193. A future article will discuss furniture that may be attributed to Head’s shop. More information and citations for this current article may be found in chapters 16 and 20 of Stiefel, The Cabinetmaker’s Account: John Head’s Record of Craft and Commerce in Colonial Philadelphia, 1718–1753 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Press, 2019), published as Volume 271 of the Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society. 2. Bowett–Stiefel email, February 22, 2017. 3. William Macpherson Hornor Jr., Blue Book, Philadelphia Furniture, William Penn to George Washington (Philadelphia: Privately printed, 1935), 57. 4. Property from the Collection of E. Newbold Smith and Margaret du Pont Smith, Sotheby’s, New York, January 21, 2017, lot 6054, “Extremely Rare Queen Anne Carved Cherrywood Tall-Case Clock, Works by Peter Stretch, Case Attributed to John Head, Philadelphia, Circa 1750.” 5. “Inventory of the Goods and Chattels of William Callender deceased,” which was “[a]ppraised 6th & 8[th] days 6th mo. 1763 By John Reynell [&] Abel James.” Philadelphia Wills, 1763-294. While it is unknown why Leacock paid for a clock delivered to Callender, perhaps it was to pay off a debt. 6. In 1730, Anthony married Sarah (1713–1751), daughter of Abigail (Wilcox) and Samuel Powell, Sr. Anthony Morris’ parents, Anthony Morris III (1682–1763) and Phoebe (Guest) Morris (1685–1768), would later witness the marriage certificate of John Head Jr. and Mary Hudson. Jay Robert Stiefel’s new book is titled The Cabinetmaker’s Account: John Head’s Record of Craft and Commerce in Colonial Philadelphia, 1718–1753 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Press, 2019), from which this article is derived.