Important Americana
Important Americana
Property of a Private Collector, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Auction Closed
January 26, 08:38 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
CHIPPENDALE WALNUT TALL CASE CLOCK, WORKS BY BENJAMIN RITTENHOUSE, WORCESTER, PENNSYLVANIA, DATED 1782
lacking sarcophagus top; the brass dial engraved Benj. Rittenhouse 1782.
Height 88 in. by Case Width 12 ⅞ in. by Depth 10 in.
Benjamin Rittenhouse (1740-1825), trained by renowned older brother, David Rittenhouse, was one of the most prolific manufacturers of clocks and precision instruments in America during the late 18th century. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War, he served as a captain in the Pennsylvania militia and later superintendent of the gunlock factory in Philadelphia. After the gunlock factory was disbanded in 1779, he set up a shop in Worcester, Pennsylvania, where this clock was likely made.
A closely related example is in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (see Edwin A Battison and Patricia E. Kane, The American Clock 1725-1865, (Greenwich, Connecticut: New York Graphic Society, 1973), no. 26, p. 122).