102nd Auction
2020/6/29
Lot 409
Eardley Norton, London, Height 580 mm, circa 1890
An important Victorian bracket clock with calendar, moon phase, half hour/hour strike and exceptional musical movement playing eight tunes, one of them the national anthem of the United Kingdom: "God Save the King". The musical movement uses a barrel with pins and releases either automatically or on demand
Case: oak, veneered, ebonized, firegilt brass mountings, brass base. Dial: brass, firegilt, silver and blued steel. Movm.: solid rectangular brass movement, elaborately engraved with flower tendrils, 3 x chain/fusee for clock, strike and tunes, 20 hammers/12 bells, large, mounted barrel with pins, additional hammer and bell for half hour/hour strike, anchor escapement, governor, short pendulum with silk string suspension.
The ebonized, moulded body is supported by a rectangular brass base on four brass bun feet. Front and back with glass panels, the front ornamented with brass fittings and silk-lined silver lattices to cover the sound holes. The open-work, cut-out corners with engraved galant scenes are also lined with red silk. Inverted top with brass handle, the four corners decorated with a pine cone each.
The spandrels of the brass dial are intricately embellished with chased, applied floral ornaments. The spaces between the Roman hours on the applied silver chapter ring have been engraved with rocailles; inside the ring, three windows display the calendar: a cut-out with a figural engraving between 9 and 10 o’clock shows the month with its length in a separate small window; a window between 2 and 3 o’clock displays the day of the week with its engraved planetary symbol; a date window sits at 6 o’clock and Eardley Norton’s screwed on signature plaque is positioned at 12 o’clock. The cut-out for the moon phase and two figural engravings depicting day and night are shown in the arched section above the dial. A silver semi-circle presents the engraved names of the available tunes: "An Ayre", "The Happy Clown", "Cotilon", "Lovely Nancy", "Grenadiers March", "God Save the King", "March in Scipio", "An Hornpyp".
Eardley Norton was, in his time, a renowned and famous maker who produced complicated astronomical and musical clocks as well as pocket watches; many of his timepieces are in museums today. Some of his clocks have been signed "Yeldrae Notron", which is his name spelled backwards - it is possible that this was intended to distinguish them as a kind of second quality. King George III bought one of Norton’s astronomical clocks and it is still in Buckingham Palace, together with a similar piece by Christopher Pinchbeck. Norton was active from around 1760 to 1794, when his workshop in St. John Street was taken over by Gravell & Tolkein. They did business there until at least 1820.
An important Victorian bracket clock with calendar, moon phase, half hour/hour strike and exceptional musical movement playing eight tunes, one of them the national anthem of the United Kingdom: "God Save the King". The musical movement uses a barrel with pins and releases either automatically or on demand
Case: oak, veneered, ebonized, firegilt brass mountings, brass base. Dial: brass, firegilt, silver and blued steel. Movm.: solid rectangular brass movement, elaborately engraved with flower tendrils, 3 x chain/fusee for clock, strike and tunes, 20 hammers/12 bells, large, mounted barrel with pins, additional hammer and bell for half hour/hour strike, anchor escapement, governor, short pendulum with silk string suspension.
The ebonized, moulded body is supported by a rectangular brass base on four brass bun feet. Front and back with glass panels, the front ornamented with brass fittings and silk-lined silver lattices to cover the sound holes. The open-work, cut-out corners with engraved galant scenes are also lined with red silk. Inverted top with brass handle, the four corners decorated with a pine cone each.
The spandrels of the brass dial are intricately embellished with chased, applied floral ornaments. The spaces between the Roman hours on the applied silver chapter ring have been engraved with rocailles; inside the ring, three windows display the calendar: a cut-out with a figural engraving between 9 and 10 o’clock shows the month with its length in a separate small window; a window between 2 and 3 o’clock displays the day of the week with its engraved planetary symbol; a date window sits at 6 o’clock and Eardley Norton’s screwed on signature plaque is positioned at 12 o’clock. The cut-out for the moon phase and two figural engravings depicting day and night are shown in the arched section above the dial. A silver semi-circle presents the engraved names of the available tunes: "An Ayre", "The Happy Clown", "Cotilon", "Lovely Nancy", "Grenadiers March", "God Save the King", "March in Scipio", "An Hornpyp".
Eardley Norton was, in his time, a renowned and famous maker who produced complicated astronomical and musical clocks as well as pocket watches; many of his timepieces are in museums today. Some of his clocks have been signed "Yeldrae Notron", which is his name spelled backwards - it is possible that this was intended to distinguish them as a kind of second quality. King George III bought one of Norton’s astronomical clocks and it is still in Buckingham Palace, together with a similar piece by Christopher Pinchbeck. Norton was active from around 1760 to 1794, when his workshop in St. John Street was taken over by Gravell & Tolkein. They did business there until at least 1820.
Sold
estimated
8.500—15.000 €
Price realized
10.000 €