Live Auction 21043The Collection of Sir Nicholas Goodison - British Art: Innovation and Craftsmanship
JOHN ELLICOTT, LONDON, CIRCA 1740
Lot 18

JOHN ELLICOTT, LONDON, CIRCA 1740

A GEORGE II STRKING LONGCASE CLOCK WITH BAROMETER

Closed25 May 2022

Estimate

GBP 40,000–60,000

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JOHN ELLICOTT, LONDON, CIRCA 1740
A GEORGE II STRKING LONGCASE CLOCK WITH BAROMETER
CASE: the walnut-veneered case with chequer line inlay, the arched hood with later caddy top with three brass flambeau vase finials, with gilt-brass stop-fluted three-quarter and quarter columns to the angles, glazed sides and door, the trunk door inset with wheel barometer, on a stepped plinth and skirted foot
BAROMETER: the 8 inch glazed dial with matted centre, the silvered chapter ring engraved with weather indications 'Stormy / Much Rain / Rain / Changeable / Fair / Very Dry' and temperature indications '28 - 31', pierced blued steel hands, the recording hand operated by knob below the dial, the siphon barometer tube set into the oak door carcass and covered by a panel
DIAL: the 12 inch dial plate with 'Strike / Silent' indication ring to the arch flanked by foliate and dolphin spandrels, the silvered chapter ring with Roman hours and Arabic five minutes and signed to the lower edge 'John Ellicott / London', the matted centre with date aperture and subsidiary seconds ring, blued steel hands, the pierced spandrels with eagles flanking a fruiting vase with lambrequin below
MOVEMENT: the eight-day twin-train movement with plates joined by five knopped pillars, with recoil anchor escapement, strikework mounted to the front plate and striking a bell above with indistinct inked inscription to underneath, brass and steel pulleys, two brass cased weights, brass rod pendulum with brass cased weighted bob, the seatboard on cheekboards with later packing to tops
Walnut, brass
106 in. (269.3 cm.) high; 21 1⁄4 in. (54 cm.) wide; 10 1⁄2 in. (26.6 cm.) deep

Anonymous sale [Mrs Vesey]; Christie's, London, 11 October 1962, lot 9, to Goodison (£157.10s).

Specialist note


John Ellicott F.R.S. (1706-1772) was the son of John Ellicott, a London watchmaker who was himself the son of a watchmaker from Bodmin, Cornwall. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1738 and was later appointed Clockmaker to George III. Clocks incorporating barometers are rare. A similar clock by Ellicott, but with a moon-phase sphere to the dial arch, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (W.107:1-1962).
Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: Clocks with very similar movements and cases exist by Richard Peckover and by John Cowell, but not with the barometer in the door. This clock lacked its caddy top to the hood when bought in 1962, probably taken off by a previous owner when the clock proved too high for their ceilings. It was not until 2007 that it was possible to restore the hood and copy the caddy top from a related clock by Richard Peckover, which also had the rare feature of a barometer mounted to the trunk door (Dealing in Excellence: A Celebration of Hotspur and Jeremy, Christie's, London 20 November 2008, lot 141).