- 269
A Very Rare Queen Anne Japanned White Pine Tall-Case Clock with Rocking Ship Movement, works by Gawen Brown and japanning attributed to Thomas Johnson, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1760
Description
- white pine
- Height 85 3/4 in. by Width 21 1/4 in. by Depth 11 1/2 in.
Provenance
Literature
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
An extremely rare survival of Boston japanned furniture, this tall-case clock displays a brass movement by Gawen Brown (1719-1801) and finely-preserved japanning attributed to Thomas Johnston (1708-1767), two talented craftsmen working in the same building in Boston from 1749 to 1752.1 This sophisticated clock is one of three closely related tall case clocks with japanning linked to Johnston and a movement by Brown, with a second example in the collection of Winterthur Museum and a third at the Henry Ford Museum.2
A leading Boston clockmaker in the second half of the eighteenth century, Gawen Brown was born in Edlingham, Northumberland County, England in 1719 and emigrated to Boston by January 1749, when he advertised that he was "Lately from London, keeps his Shop at Mr. Johnston's, Japanner, in Brattle-Street" where he made and offered for sale "plain, repeating and astronomical Clocks, with Cases, plain, black Walnut, Mahogany or Japann'd, or without ... Clock strings, London Lacker, and white varnish for Clocks." He and Thomas Johnston worked in the same building from 1749 to 1752, and some of his early clocks exhibit japanning attributed to Johnston as a result. In 1752, Brown moved his shop to King (now State) Street. His advertisements from 1752 to 1788 mention he sold eight-day clocks as well as watches imported from London. He also made and repaired tower clocks. He served in the American Revolution as a captain in Col. Henry Jackson's regiment in Rhode Island from 1777-8, a brigade major in Pennsylvania in 1779, and retired as a lieutenant colonel. He continued to work at the shop on King Street until 1797, when he relocated to a shop and house on George Street, where he died four years later.3
Thomas Johnston was a prolific Boston house painter and decorator, as well as a japanner, engraver, and painter of coats of arms who worked at a shop on the west side of Brattle Square between 1726 and 1767.4 While no documented examples of his work are known, japanning attributed to his hand demonstrates great artistic skill, with integrated scenes containing figures, fluted columns, and profuse floral details. His trade card of 1732 appears on a tall case clock made by Benjamin Bagnall that no longer retains any of its japanned decoration.5 Another tall-case clock with japanning attributed to Johnston exhibits a movement by John Doane of Scituate and a case made by Peter Stelling of Boston. It sold in these rooms, Fine Americana, June 27, 1991, sale 6201, lot 354.
1 Frank L. Hohmann III, Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks, New York, 2009, p. 322.
2 See ibid, no. 21, pp. 146-7 and Helen Comstock, American Furniture, New York, 1962, fig. 187.
3 Hohmann, p. 322-3.
4 Sinclair Hitchings, "Thomas Johnston," in Boston Prints and Printmakers, 1670-1775, ed. By Walter Muir Whitehill, Boston, 1973, p. 91, 110-11.
5 See "Benjamin Bagnall, Clockmaker," Old Time New England, July 1935, p. 31.