Tall Case Clock
Artist: Simon Willard (American, 1753-1848)
Date: about 1805-1810
Dimensions:
H: 96 in.
Medium: Mahogany case with satinwood banding, brass munts, painted metal dial
Classification: Furniture
Credit Line: Gift of the Anderton Bentley Foundation in Memory of Lawrence Chamberlain Bentley
Object number: 1988.51
Label Text:Tall case clocks were first introduced in England in the late 1600s, and by the mid-1700s, they had become a standard furnishing of affluent American homes. Simon Willard, the most distinguished American clockmaker of the first half of the 1800s, was among the legendary “ingenious Yankees” of early American industrial history. He supplied clocks to churches and public buildings, including the United States Capitol, and counted Thomas Jefferson among his clients.
A distinctive feature of this clock’s dial is the painted ship attached to the pendulum that rocks back and forth, as if tossed on a stormy sea (the clock is currently not running to avoid wear on the delicate mechanism).
A distinctive feature of this clock’s dial is the painted ship attached to the pendulum that rocks back and forth, as if tossed on a stormy sea (the clock is currently not running to avoid wear on the delicate mechanism).
Not on view
In Collection(s)