Beschreibung:

A FINE EARLY 18TH CENTURY FEATHERBANDED BURR WALNUT LONGCASE CLOCK OF ONE MONTH DURATIONAlexander Hewitt, London The feather banded case of exceptional figuring and colour, the hood cornice and silk-backed sound fret on gilt brass-mounted Doric columns, the concave throat moulding set at each corner with carved giltwood corbels, the long door of lively figure (mounted on substantial brass hinges similar to those used by Tompion and Graham) and set with a pierced and engraved brass escutcheon depicting a goose, all within a half round moulded edge, the panelled base with crossbanded border on a double apron. The 12-inch square brass dial framed by cherub-and-crown spandrels interspersed by foliate engraving, silvered chapter ring with Arabic five minutes interspersed by Tompion-esque half-quarter marks, minute band, Roman hours with fancy meeting arrowhead half hour marks emanating from the quarter-hour track. The finely matted centre with subsidiary seconds dial and chamfered date aperture signed at the base of a shaped engraved central rose, with latched dial feet. The weight driven movement with six latched and knopped pillars, anchor escapement to a long pendulum suspended from a keystone-shaped suspension piece, the strike dictated via an inside rack on the bell above; set on a replaced seatboard, but the (split) original secured inside the case. Ticking and striking, together with the pendulum and a pair of brass clad weights. 2.28m (7ft 5.5ins) high. FootnotesProvenance: Christie's, London, anonymous sale 26 February 1992, lot 68. Probably the first Alexander Hewitt, working in London from 1691. Carved giltwood corbels at the throat are rare to find on longcase clocks; comparable examples exist by Daniel Quare and Christopher Gould. Thomas Tompion made use of them too, most famously on the un-numbered 'Record' and 'Denmark' special commissions of circa 1700-03. A little later he used them on clock number 275 which is still enjoyed by the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace to this day. There are several Tompion influences in the current clock - the corbels, the hinges, the latched movement and also the half quarter marks on the chapter ring - this is not surprising perhaps when one understands that the two men had both a professional and personal relationship. Alexander Hewitt, also spelled Hewett, was probably born around 1671 and he began his apprenticeship to Benjamin Bell in 1685. Bell was an impressive horologist and innovative tool maker, listing both Robert Hooke and Thomas Tompion among his associates - as a young apprentice, Hewitt could not have hoped to meet two more influential men at this time. Before Hewitt could complete his apprenticeship however, Bell died, though he did leave his tools to Hewitt. Tompion was one of the experts who evaluated Bell's inventory after his death and would have undoubtedly liaised with Hewitt over this. Hewitt does not appear to have been taken on by another master, instead, he was made free of the Curriers' Company in 1697. He took apprentices through the Curriers company, though he seems to have trained them in clockmaking as well. He married Sarah Cole in 1695, and they had seven children, two of whom, Benjamin and Alexander, would become clockmakers. Benjamin was made free in 1724, and Alexander was freed a year later. Alexander's son, also called Alexander, would be apprenticed to his father in 1743 before being turned over to a goldsmith, Edward Smith in 1746 when his father died. It is not known what happened to the remaining Hewitt horologists. Watches, and especially clocks, by Alexander Hewitt are very rare, but whether this is due to a limited output on Hewitt's part, or difficulties arising from him not being a member of the Clockmaker's Company is not clear. Kynett, V. N. (2017) ' Early English Verge Watches: Part 2 of a Three-Part Series Ca. 1690 Watch Signed by Alexander Hewitt with Box and Case', NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin, March/April, pgs. 127-143. Atkins, C