Page 46 - Nov 2020 JOA

The Beauty and Function of 18th and 19th Century Tall

Case Clocks at Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG, VA – Marking time to the design of both the clock movements and cases then to Newport, Rhode
exact minute was a new innovation during the changed over time with innovations, evolving Island. He produced square
late 17th century, and the development of the tall fashions, and regional preferences. and arched dial clocks during
case clock helped to make that possible. Until the Organized in sections on clock movements, his 30-year career in
early 19th century, only the wealthy could afford dials, Southern tall case clocks, plain vs. fancy Newport. This example was
these expensive timepieces. As society became design, and table clocks, Keeping Time: Tall Case made c. 1740 and its case was
more dependent on time regulation, clocks Clocks offers an encyclopedic survey on the topic. made c. 1765, suggesting the
became more necessary and innovations made “Much like today’s watches and clocks, 18th- owner later upgraded the case to
them more attainable. How these timepieces and 19th-century tall case clocks, including those reflect newer fashions.
evolved, were made and used will be explored in highlighted in this exhibition, followed national Not all tall case clocks were
Keeping Time: Tall Case Clocks, a new exhibition and regional trends in fashionable style and elaborate, but even plain styles
of more than 20 tall case clocks from different design,” said Colonial Williamsburg’s Curator of could be handsome, as exempli-
regions spanning more than a century of time- Furniture, Tara Chicirda. “These clocks were also fied by a clock that will be on
keeping. Opening on November 14, 2020 in the customized with specialized mechanical features. view at the Art Museums for the
Iris and Mark Coblitz Gallery at the DeWitt Akin to the apps on today’s smart watches and first time. Made between 1819
Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, one of the cell phones, tall case clocks often incorporated and 1829 by Elijah Warner of
newly expanded Art Museums of Colonial extra applications, including those to tell the time Lexington, Kentucky, the clock
Williamsburg, the exhibition will remain on view of local high tides, the phases of the moon, or day case relies for its design success
through December 31, 2022. of the month. on figured cherry and mahog-
Tall case clocks are weight-driven movements Among the highlights of Keeping Time is a tall any and a well-proportioned
regulated by pendulums and housed in tall case clock by clockmaker Thomas Planner of form rather than more costly
wooden cases. They were the products of two London, ca. 1700. The case is veneered with a inlaid or carved elements.
distinct trades: the clockmaker, who put together small-scale foliate marquetry, known by some in Keeping Time: Tall Case
the mechanical movement, and the cabinetmaker the period, as filigree. The square brass dial, Clocks is generously funded
(or joiner), who made the wooden case. the stepped (or “sarcophagus”-shaped) hood and by Mark and Iris Coblitz.
Additional specialists might have cast the brass the filigree marquetry of this clock case were Information about the
wheels (gears) for the movement, engraved or considered the height of fashion. Art Museums and Colonial
painted decoration on the dial, or produced Another tall case clock in the exhibition was Williamsburg and tickets
decorative inlaid wooden elements or painted made by William Claggett, a London-born are available online at
ornament on the clock cases. The style and clockmaker who immigrated first to Boston and colonialwilliamsburg.org.

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44 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles