AFA Summer 2021

Summer 76 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Figs. 9 and 10: Tall case clock. Movement: Aaron Willard, Boston, Mass., 1800–1810. Mahogany, mahogany veneer, white pine, glass, brass, steel, and iron. OH. 100⅛, OW. 21, OD. 10 in. Museum Purchase, 1930-52. Photos courtesy of The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. artisans, including a clockmaker and a cabinetmaker, participated in its production. Specialists of various types were often involved in producing components or decoration, including casting brass parts for the movements, engraving or painting dials, or creating wooden, brass, or painted ornament for the cases. However, typically, only the clockmaker’s name appeared on the dial. Just like purchasing an expensive item today, an eighteenth- century patron could choose various options for his tall case clock, from what extra features might be included in the mechanism to how fashionable or expensive his case might be. The movements might include extra elements like strike/silent levers, which allowed the owner to choose whether to hear the clock chime, date of the month, a lunar calendar indicating phases of the moon, a high tide indicator, or even in some rare instances, the astrological sign associated with a date. The cases tended to follow the furniture fashions for the time and place of manufacture and their intricacy depended only on the depth of the purchaser’s pocketbook. An early clock by Thomas Planner of London, circa 1700 (Figs. 1, 2), is an example of a typical eight-day clock (one that can run for eight days between windings) of that period. The square dial, with its silvered chapter ring denoting the hours and minutes, and a smaller seconds register above the hands, the date of the month showing in the square aperture below the hands, and the cast decorative spandrels in each corner, typify the standard elements on early eighteenth-century clocks. The form of the case is also quite conventional, including the