Lot 237

Dent, 82 Strand, London, Movement No. 543, Height 170 mm, circa 1840
A very fine, important and rare Victorian carriage clock in a lavishly engraved case, made by one of the leading watch- and clockmakers of his time
Case: gilt brass, facet glazed sides with engraved silver panels, facet glazed front and top. Dial: silver, lavishly engraved. Movm.: rectangular brass full plate movement, chain/fusee, platform with English lever escapement, three-arm steel ring balance.
This is a typical Victorian clock in a delicately chased Anglaise case with floral engraving and four finely cast corner columns with bud-shaped finials. The hour dial with Roman numerals is exquisitely engraved in the centre and shows a large tree in a hilly landscape. The sides are decorated with similar engraving and show scenes set in an idealised landscape with ruins and temples in the background: on the right, a monk and a praying woman, on the left a theft is taking place.
John Edward Dent was born in 1790 and started his career as a candle-maker before he turned to watch- and clockmaking. Dent is considered one of the leading watch- and clockmakers of his time who produced pocket watches, large clocks, chronometers and regulators. He worked for the Vulliamys and the Barrauds from 1815 until 1829, and became the partner of John Roger Arnold in 1830. The partnership ended in 1840 and Dent opened his own workshop in London. John Edward Dent's clocks, chronometers and pocket watches were much sought after even then and he also built the famous clock in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Dent’s clocks, his chronometers and his pocket watches have always sold for high prices, even during his lifetime.

Sold