Tall Case Clock

Artist Simon Willard (American, 1753-1848)

Dateabout 1805-1810

DimensionsH: 96 in.

MediumMahogany case with satinwood banding, brass munts, painted metal dial

ClassificationFurniture

Credit LineGift of the Anderton Bentley Foundation in Memory of Lawrence Chamberlain Bentley

Object number

1988.51

Not on View

Label TextTall 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. Boston-based 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).