Live Auction 21043The Collection of Sir Nicholas Goodison - British Art: Innovation and Craftsmanship
JOHN COWELL, LONDON, CIRCA 1780
Lot 186

JOHN COWELL, LONDON, CIRCA 1780

A GEORGE III STRIKING TABLE CLOCK

Closed25 May 2022

Price Realised

GBP 4,032

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JOHN COWELL, LONDON, CIRCA 1780
A GEORGE III STRIKING TABLE CLOCK
CASE: the arched case with foliate loop handle and cross-banded panels, the shaped door with brass mouldings, glazed arched sides and rear door, raised on bracket feet
DIAL: the silvered dial with Roman hours and Arabic five minutes, pierced steel hands, subsidiary dials above for regulation and 'srike / silent', signed to the arch 'John Cowell / Royal Exchange / London'
MOVEMENT: the eight-day twin-train gut fusee movement with half deadbeat escapement repeating on a single bell, the backplate with pendulum locking mechanism and signed 'John Cowell / Royal Exchange / London'
Mahogany and brass
13 1⁄2 in. (34.3 cm.) high (handle down); 11 in. (28 cm.) wide; 8 in. (20.3 cm.) deep

Robert Eustace Abel Smith, Little Missenden, Hertfordshire;
thence by descent.

Specialist note


Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: John Cowell is recorded as apprenticed in 1752 and a member of the Clockmakers' Company from 1759-1799. His signature also appeared on a long-case clock set in a mahogany case almost identical to the walnut case of the clock by John Ellicott (in this sale). This bracket clock was one of a number of objects distributed to the children of Robert Eustace Abel Smith, who was killed in World War II in 1940, and Mary Sidney Abel Smith in 1959.