THE FRIEZE FAMILY VERY FINE AND RARE CHIPPENDALE CARVED AND FIGURED MAHOGANY TALL CASE CLOCK, WORKS BY EDWARD SPALDING, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, CIRCA 1775

dial arch inscribed ETERNITAS ADVENIT KNOW THY-SELF WELL APPLY THY TIME and name plate inscribed Edwa^d Spalding PROVIDENCE.  Appears to retain its original finials, original clockhands detached but present. Feet 19th century replacements.

Jacob Frieze (1789-1880), Providence, Rhode Island m. Betsy Slade (1795-1850);
General Lyman Bowers Frieze (1825-1917), Staten Island, New York (son) m. Josephine Amelia Gardner (1833-1901);
Lyman Bowers Frieze Jr. (1858-1916), Staten Island, New York (son) m. Mary Savage Crowell (1862-1942);
E. Beach Crowell Frieze (1904-1973), New York, New York (son) m. Marie E. Gorman Frieze (1915-1991);
thence by descent through the family.

The original clockhands are detached but present, with later clockhands currently installed; feet loose and reglued, front vertical glue blocks replaced, side base moldings cracked and reglued, quarter inch by inch patch on case at location of lock.
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.

Edward Spalding (1732-1785) was one of Providence’s earliest clockmakers.  The earliest clock he is known to have made is dated 1753. He continued as a clockmaker up to the Revolutionary war where he served as Captain and rose to the rank of Major. The case with its boxed pediment and chamfered corners in the lower case relates directly to other case pieces that Wendy Cooper and Tara Gleason Chicirda identified to Providence cabinetmakers in their groundbreaking article “A Different Rhode Island Block-and-Shell Story: Providence and Pitch Pediments,” American Furniture 2000, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 1999), p. 162-208. 

A clock case housing works by Seril Dodge (1759-1802) is the closest parallel to the currently offer lot (see Frank L. Hohmann, III, Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks, (New York: Hohmann Holdings LLC, 2009), pp. 290-1, no. 88). The currently offered lot’s rosettes are identical to those on the Amos Atwell desk-and bookcase [RIF582].

Only two other Spalding clocks are known that have rocking ship movements.  One that descended in the Calder family and is now in the collection of the Museum Fine Arts, Houston-Bayou Bend and the other originally belonged to Welcome Arnold (1745-1798), Providence, Rhode Island (see David B. Warren et. al., American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, (Houston: Museum of Fine Arts; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), pp. 75-6, no. F124 [RIF392]; and Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards,(Tenafly, NJ: MMI Americana Press, 1984), p. 332, fig. 8.20 [RIF94]).

Frieze Family

Jacob Frieze was a Universalist Minister and was an early missionary to North Carolina. Jacob was a Mason and was Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island in 1831. In 1837 he was Clerk of the Rhode Island General Assembly and later in life he served as private secretary to the US Senator from Rhode Island, William Sprague, for a part of his term, 1863-75. He became a Rhode Island political journalist after his retirement.

General Lyman B. Frieze was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts and his grandfather on his mother's side was a Captain of Minute Men in the Revolutionary War. He saw service as a Lieutenant Colonel with Rhode Island troops in the civil war and after the battle of Bull Run was appointed on the staff of Governor Sprague of Rhode Island and was Quartermaster General and later Collector of Revenue of Rhode Island. From 1882 to his death General Frieze was Treasure of the Cranston Print Works at Cranston. Rhode Island. He was for some years with the Spragues in the cotton mill industry in Providence and with them founded the first three national banks in that city.