Federal Inlaid and Figured Mahogany Tall Case Clock

Object Details

Related Objects

Chippendale Figured Mahogany Reverse-Serpentine Desk and Bookcase

Unknown
ca. 1760-1780

wood; mahogany; eastern white pine

Object Essay

Among the most recognizable of all tall-case cocks are those manufactured in the shop of Simon Willard, an incredibly prolific craftsman who died in 1848 at age ninety-five.^{1_{Willard, 35.}} Hundreds of simple but elegant clocks have his name on their face and, in some cases, a rectangular printed label with instructions for operating the clock glued to the inside of the door. The undated label on this clock, printed by Isaiah Thomas, Jr., of Worcester, Massachusetts, also advertises clocks made by Willard at his “Clock Manufactory . . . At his Clock Dial.” According to Willard’s biographer, his great-grandson John Ware Willard, “Simon Willard never advertised in the papers,” so this printed label was the clockmaker’s major effort at self-promotion.^{2_{Ibid., 12.}}

The clock has an eight-day movement, a rack-and-snail strike, and an anchor-recoil escapement, all typical of the work of the Willard shop.

While Simon Willard and others in his family of clockmakers made the works, the makers of the cases were clearly of equal importance to the finished product. Unfortunately their identity has far less documentation. According to John Ware Willard, the Roxbury cabinetmaker William Fiske (Fisk) “made nearly all of Simon Willard’s clock cases from about 1800 to 1838, and also made them for the Aaron Willards and other clock makers.”^{3_{Ibid., 45, 117–18.}}

Willard gives no documentation for this statement, so there is little known evidence that his generalization is accurate. Many other cabinetmakers as well as others associated with the clockmaking trade—notably ornamental painters, gilders, dial makers, and brass founders—lived and worked in the area along Washington Street in Roxbury where the Willards were making clocks.

John Doggett, Henry Willard, Charles Crane Crehore, and William Fiske’s brother Samuel are all said to have made clock cases.^{4_{For further information about the clustering of cabinetmakers in the Roxbury area, see Page Talbott, “The Furniture Industry of Boston, 1810–1835,” master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1974, 14, 44, 97, n. 44.}} The recent discovery of a tall-case clock with works signed by Aaron Willard and an original bill of sale from William Fiske dated May 21, 1806, however, has lent considerable authority to the supposition that Fiske made cases for the Willards.^{5_{This clock was sold at Christie’s, New York, January 26, 1985, Lot 255. It was a presentation clock made for Edward Killeran, a prominent citizen of Cushing, Massachusetts.}}

The case of the Department of State’s clock is a standard model, with French feet of the variety probably used on clocks made after 1800. The fretwork is replaced, copied from other clocks of this type, while the brass bell and spire finials are original.^{6_{Sincere thanks goes to Edward S. Cooke, Jr., Associate Curator, American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for assistance in researching the fret pattern; to Douglas Currie, Studio Restorations, Sudbury, Massachusetts, who made the fret; and to the Willard House and Clock Museum, Grafton, Massachusetts, for allowing the fret on their labeled Willard clock to be copied.}} The dial was probably imported, but the phases of the moon in the lunette may have been painted locally.

“King” Hooper, the powerful merchant and magnate of the late 18th-century fishing industry in Marblehead, was the first owner of this and several other objects in the Collection.

Page Talbott

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.