Live Auction 18848Apter-Fredericks: 75 Years of Important English Furniture
A GEORGE III ORMOLU AND CUT GLASS 'CANDLESTICK CLOCK' TIMEPIECE
Lot 8

A GEORGE III ORMOLU AND CUT GLASS 'CANDLESTICK CLOCK' TIMEPIECE

ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM PARKER, THE GILT GLASS PEDESTAL POSSIBLY DECORATED BY JAMES GILES, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Closed19 January 2021

Price Realised

GBP 20,000

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A GEORGE III ORMOLU AND CUT GLASS 'CANDLESTICK CLOCK' TIMEPIECE
ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM PARKER, THE GILT GLASS PEDESTAL POSSIBLY DECORATED BY JAMES GILES, LATE 18TH CENTURY
CASE: the drum-shaped glazed ormolu case with pineapple glass finial, cut-glass canopy below suspended with pendants, the concave-sided blue glass pedestal base gilt-decorated with paterae and swags, ram's masks to the angles, the spreading plinth on ball feet
DIAL: the 3 inch white enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic minutes, pierced gilt hands
MOVEMENT: the four pillar single train timepiece movement with chain fusee and balance wheel verge escapement, unsigned, the underside of the urn with fitting stamped 'B'
15 ¾ in. (40 cm.) high; 4 ¾ in. (12 cm.) wide

Almost certainly purchased by Sir Albert Richardson (1880-1964) from F. Jones, Tavistock Street, Bedford, 25 March 1931, as an 18th century ormolu clock with cut-glass pendants (£121.12).
The Collection of Professor Sir Albert Richardson, P.R.A.; sold Christie's, London, 18-19 September 2013, lot 59.

Specialist note


This rare and apparently unrecorded clock is closely related to a form of table candelabra attributed to the firm of William Parker. His patent of 28 March 1781 may well refer to this particular type and notes that this was a new method for making 'the pedestals or supports for candlesticks, girandoles, chandeliers, candelabrums, lamps, candle shades, eparns, clocks...' (Exhibition catalogue, Country House Lighting 1660-1890, Temple Newsam Country House Studies, 1992, pp. 44-45, cat. No. 10). A pair of candlesticks with the same model base as both this clock and the candelabra exhibited at Temple Newsam is included in this sale as the following lot; and two pairs of candelabra of varying numbers of branches were previously with Delomosne & Son Ltd. (M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, Suffolk, 2000, p. 15, colour pl. 6 & p. 96, pl. 42). Between 1782-3 Parker supplied a number of items to the Duke of Devonshire including a set of four complex candelabra with this patent base, although in green glass, which remain at Chatsworth, and are recorded in Parker's bill to the duke (ibid., p. 97, pl. 43).

The decoration to the glass of both the clock and candelabra is possibly by James Giles, one of the finest 18th-century glass and porcelain decorators. Working from London, and of Huguenot descent, Giles fabricated gilt and enamelled objects in the neoclassical style. Indeed Giles and Parker were strong business associates, with Giles' ledgers between 1771 and 1774 showing purchases totalling £234.7.8 from Parker's glass warehouse (A. McConnell, 'James Giles' Decoration', The Magazine Antiques, 10 October 2003, pp. 142-151).