Clock, Mirror

Object Name:

Clock, Mirror

Object ID:

1972.089.095

Creator:

Dutton, David (1792-1882)Clockmaker

Place of Origin:

Mont Vernon, NH

Date:

circa 1835

Description:

Mirror Clock. Made by David Dutton (1792-1882), Mont Vernon, NH; c. 1835. Materials: mahogany and unidentified wood; tulip poplar (dial); secondary wood white pine and assorted hardwoods (movement). Vertically oriented rectangular door extending full width of clock between flat base and cornice. Scrolled gallery at front with flanking plinths. Two glazed panels in door -- clear glass above and mirror below. Upper panel 10.75" in height, lower panel 14.625". Stiles of door decorated on face with applied split balusters and applied corner blocks. Turnings of flattened ball and cylindrical types. Split balusters and corner blocks gilded. Gallery painted black with stenciled basket of fruit in bronze. Door secured with brass hook and hinged on left side.
Rectangular painted wooden dial, beneath upper glass panel, with roman hour numerals and pierced, steel hour and minute hands matching in design. Painted decoration in gilt, pink and green partly in relief, including crossed sprays of buds surrounding center of dial and single sprays of buds in spandrels, with borders composed of S-shaped elements. A winding hole with brass grommet at either side of center. Boardman-type 30-hour wooden movement with strike.
Wood of turnings and corner blocks unidentified. Front gallery of ash. Remainder of visible surface of case veneered with mahogany. Dial probably tulip poplar. Several nail holes in lower backboard. Bell and weight sheaves projecting through top of case. Much of inner surface stained red. Large printed label glued to inner surface of lower backboard, reading in part: "Patent / Clocks, / Manufactured & Sold / by / David Dutton, / Mont-Vernon, N.H.". Printed at the "Cabinet Office", Amherst, N.H. Mirror backed with pine board, stained red. Partially legible pencil inscriptions on interior of door, one reading: "T. E. Carr". Traces of earlier coat of yellow paint on corner blocks. Outer surface of backboard unplaned. Separately stored parts: pendulum bob, winding key.

Material:

Wood
Mahogany
Ash
Poplar
Pine
Brass
Iron
Glass

Dimensions:

H-35.125 W-16.375 D-5.75 inches

Provenance:

Clock with maker's label of David Dutton (1792-1882), Mont Vernon, N.H. The name of T. E. Carr (possibly Thomas E. Carr, 1849-, of Lyndeborough, N.H.) written in pencil on clock case interior. Acquired by donor in 1958 from Melandy Antiques, Milford, N.H. (purchase for $10). Part of a large clock collection (and related materials) including not only clocks made in N.H., but also several made elsewhere, acquired in N.H. by the donor (Charles S. Parsons, 1904-1988) and probably used here.

Credit Line:

Gift of Charles S. Parsons

People:

Carr, Thomas E. (1849- ), Dutton, David (1792-1882), Parsons, Charles S. (1904-1988)

Subjects:

Manufacturing