VERY FINE AND RARE FEDERAL INLAID AND FIGURED MAHOGANY TALL CASE CLOCK, WORKS BY SIMON WILLARD, ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1795

Gary Sullivan Antiques, Inc., Canton, Massachusetts.

This tall case clock survives in remarkable condition and retains its original surface, painted wood shaft pendulum rod, painted dial, dial glass, finials, painted tin can weights, saddle board, and winding key. The feet and fretwork are also original with very minor repairs. The clock displays a movement signed by Simon Willard (1753-1848), the highly-skilled and innovative clockmaker of Grafton and Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Characteristic of his finest and most expensive tall-case clocks, this example has an eight-day movement with calendar and moon attachments set in an elaborate inlaid mahogany case surmounted by three cast-brass ball and spire finials. The painted dial is surrounded by a dial mat that is partially painted green and framed with original brass piping. These premium features are found on fewer than a dozen of the finest surviving Willard tall case clocks. Very few clocks of this period survive with original painted pendulum rods. This one was painted to match the dial mat. The latter detail is an extreme rarity and possibly unique. 

Born in Grafton in 1753, Simon trained with the English-born Grafton clockmaker John Morris before working locally for his older brother Benjamin. By 1784 he had his own shop in Roxbury, where he trained his sons Simon Jr. and Benjamin in the trade as well as Daniel Munroe Jr. and Levi and Abel Hutchins, among others, before retiring in 1839. Also an inventor, Simon received patents for the improved timepiece in 1802 and the lighthouse clock in 1819. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, he increased his production of tall case clocks to include not only “Common eight-day Clocks, with very elegant faces and mahogany cases, price from 50 to 60 dollars”, but also “clocks that will run one year with once winding up, with very elegant cases, price 100 dollars” and chime clocks playing six tunes priced at 120 dollars. He provided his clientele with instructions for running his clocks, as well as a written guarantee, a public statement of ownership on the dial, and personalized service. He recommended meeting with his clients to discuss customized features of their clocks and advised that at delivery, his workman stay overnight to ensure all was in working order.

He purchased the opulent London-inspired cases for his clocks from Samuel (1769-1797) and William Fisk (1770-1844) or one of the other eight cabinetmakers working in the vicinity. As seen on the present clock, the cases were usually made of highly figured mahogany and fitted with an arched door, brass fluted quarter columns, pierced fretwork, three plinths surmounted by brass finials, and either ogee bracket or French feet. Attribution of the cases to a specific maker is difficult as Willard’s firm control over the case design resulted in standardized production for the form. Simon continued making tall-clocks until about 1815, when he dedicated more time to the manufacture of his banjo clock.

A tall-case clock with a movement by Simon Willard and a case similar to this one is in the collection of Winterthur Museum and illustrated in William Distin and Robert Bishop, The American Clock, New York, 1983, fig. 89, p. 49. Another related example in the Old Sturbridge Village Collection is illustrated in Philip Zea and Robert Cheney, Clock Making in New England, 1725-1825 as fig. 2-27, p. 40.