Classic Design: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Clocks

George Graham No.638. A previously unrecorded walnut longcase clock, London, circa 1722

VAT reduced rateUK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Lot Closed

November 8, 02:15 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

George Graham No.638. A previously unrecorded walnut longcase clock, London, circa 1722

11-inch latched dial with double-screwed Indian mask and scroll spandrels linked by foliate engraving and signed along the lower edge Geo: Graham. London, maintaining power lever between II and III, finely matted centre with subsidiary seconds dial and date aperture with pin adjustment, further signed on a silvered oval plaque Geo: Graham, London, the movement with five latched and knopped pillars, anchor escapement, bolt & shutter maintaining power (bolt lacking), the pendulum with brass rod and lenticular lead bob (lacking brass casing), rack striking on a bell, numbered along the lower edge of the backplate 638, original oak seatboard, the case with altered hood with architectural cresting, brass ball finial and brass-capped hood pilasters, the trunk sides divided into panels with chevron stringing, the heavily repaired trunk door reveneered and with replaced mouldings, the plinth with chevron stringing and double stepped base

226cm 7ft 5in high overall

George Graham (1674 - 1751) is one of the most renowned clock and instrument makers. He was apprenticed to Henry Aske in 1688 and on gaining his Freedom in 1695 entered the service of Thomas Tompion as a journey man. He married Tompion's niece in 1704, and in 1711 went into partnership with him. Two years later, on Tompion's death, he succeeded to the business. Graham continued Tompion's numbering system for both clocks and watches but it is thought that he made less than two hundred clocks of all types, numbered from about 585 to 780. He worked at the sign of The Dial and Three Crowns at the corner of Water Lane and Fleet Street. George Graham was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 1721 and Master of The Clockmaker's Company in 1722. He was a highly innovative maker who strove throughout his life to increase the accuracy of mechanical timekeepers. Amongst other inventions he is accredited with the cylinder escapement, the mercury pendulum and the deadbeat escapement. On his death Graham, like Tompion, was buried in Westminster Abbey. A measure of the esteem in which he was held during his lifetime.