The earliest mention of tall clocks in inventories is in the latter part of the seventeenth century, where they are always spoken of as “clock and case.” The use of the long pendulum was probably the cause of the development of the tall clock from the “lantern clock,” which had often a wooden hood over it; and when the long pendulum came into use in 1680, the lower part of the tall clock-case was made to enclose the pendulum, and sides and a glass front were added to the hood. The first cases were of oak or walnut, and the dials were square, but early in the eighteenth century the arched top was added to the dial, suggested perhaps by the shape of the dome.
The ornaments which fill in the spandrels, or corners of the face, are somewhat of a guide to the date of a brass-faced clock. The earliest spandrels had cherubs’ heads with wings, and this design was used from 1671 until 1700, when more ornaments were added to the cherub’s head. Later came a still more elaborate design of two cherubs supporting a crown, until about 1750, when the scrolls were made without the cherubs, but with a shield or head in the centre of the spandrel.
Illustration [343] shows two tall clocks which were owned originally by Thomas Hancock, from whom John Hancock inherited them. Thomas Hancock was a wealthy resident of Boston in 1738 when he wrote thus to London, ordering a clock of “the newest fashion with a good black Walnut Tree Case Veneered work, with Dark, lively branches; on the Top instead of Balls let there be three handsome Carv’d figures. Gilt with burnish’d Gold. I’d have the Case without the figures to be 10 feet Long, the price 15 not to exceed 20 Guineas, & as it’s for my own use, I beg your particular Care in buying of it at the Cheapest Rate. I’m advised to apply to one Mr. Marmaduke Storr at the foot of Londn Bridge.”
Illus. 343.—Walnut Case and Lacquered Case Clocks, about 1738.
Which of these two clocks was sent to fill this order we cannot tell. The clock with “Walnut Tree Case Veneered work, with Dark, lively branches” has the name plate of “Bowly, London,” probably Devereux Bowley, who lived from 1696 to 1773 and who was master of the Clock-Makers’ Company in 1759. The gilt ornaments are missing from the top, so we do not know whether they were the ones so carefully specified in the letter. Both clocks may date to 1738. The clock with the lacquered case has the name “Marmd Storr, foot of London Bridge,” the same to whom Thomas Hancock had “been advised to apply.” This clock has the “Balls” at the top to which he objected. Possibly the zealous friend may have sent both clocks. The one with a walnut case is now owned by the American Antiquarian Society, to which it was presented, with other pieces bought from the Hancock house in 1838, by John Chandler of Petersham. The clock with lacquered case was also bought from the Hancock house, and is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, to which it is loaned by Miss Lucy Gray Swett.
A clock-maker well known in and around Boston in the last half of the eighteenth century was Gawen Brown, who had a shop on State Street, and who made the clock upon the Old South Church, in Boston. A letter is still preserved which he wrote asking permission to make a clock for the Society, and he “Promises and Engages that the same shall be put Up and continued there forever.”
