Clock, Shelf

Object Name:

Clock, Shelf

Object ID:

1972.089.005

Creator:

Jones, Edward K. (1810-1892)Clockmaker; Hart, Orrin (1789-1870)Retailer

Place of Origin:

Bristol, CT

Date:

circa 1837

Description:

Shelf Clock. Made by Edward K. Jones (1810-1892), Bristol, CT; c. 1837. Materials: mahogany and unidentified wood; glass; tulip poplar (dial); secondary wood pine and sycamore; assorted hardwoods (movement). Wall or shelf clock having a vertically oriented rectangular door with two glazed panels--clear glass above and decorated panel below. Upper panel 9.625" in height, lower panel 13.75". Case with flat base and cornice, having scrolled gallery at front and sides, plinths at ends of front gallery. Door flanked with recessed, applied split balusters extending between applied corner blocks. Turnings of vase, ring and cylindrical types. Galleries and split balusters painted black; stenciled, anthemion designs in bronze on balusters. Lower glass panel decorated with a reverse painted lithograph of a half-length female figure, labeled "Emily"; reverse stenciled border below. Young woman facing slightly to right of center; wearing a yellow dress with low neckline and gigot sleeves, red shawl, and yellow earrings; brown hair worn in an Apollo knot; white, background. Lower border black with bronze designs of modified anthemion type. Door secured with steel lock; lozenge-shaped bone escutcheon. Square, painted wooden dial, beneath upper glass panel with Arabic hour numerals and pierced, steel hour and minute hands matching in design. Painted decoration partly in relief, including pink and white flowers with green foliage in spandrels and gilt borders. Two winding holes, one having brass grommet, below center of dial. Terry-type, thirty-hour wooden movement with strike. Wood of painted balusters and gallery unidentified; remainder of visible surface of case veneered with mahogany. Dial probably tulip popular. Several nail holes in backboard. Weight sheaves projecting through top of clock. Large printed label glued to inner surface of lower backboard, reading in part: "Improved / Clocks, / Manufactured by / E.K. Jones, / Bristol, Conn. / for / O. Hart, / Waterloo, N.Y." Wooden weight guides in case. Numerous pencil inscriptions on back of dial, giving names, dates and sometimes details of cleanings and/or repairs between 1906 and 1941, mostly in Framingham and Sherborn, MA. Brass plaque attached to inner surface of case bottom giving name and dates of cleaning in 1933. Further inscriptions on inside of door, only partly legible. Some circular saw marks evident. Separately stored: winding key, pendulum bob, case key, two cast iron weights (cylindrical).

Material:

Wood
Mahogany
Metal
Brass
Glass

Dimensions:

H-33.5 W-16.625 D-5 inches

Provenance:

Clock made by Edward K. Jones (1810-1892), Bristol, CT, sold by Orrin Hart (1789-1870), Waterloo, NY. Part of a large clock (and related materials) collection including not only clocks made in New Hampshire, but also several made elsewhere, acquired in New Hampshire by the donor (Charles S. Parsons, 1904-1988) and probably used here.

Credit Line:

Gift of Charles S. Parsons

People:

Jones, Edward K. (1810-1892), Hart, Orrin (1789-1870), Parsons, Charles S. (1904-1988)