DROUOT
Wednesday 03 Jul at - 10:00 (BST)

Furniture, Works of Art and Clocks

Woolley & Wallis - +4401722424500 - Email

Salisbury Salerooms, 51-61 Castle Street Salisbury SP13SU Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Information Conditions of sale
684 results

Lot 232 - A GEORGE I EBONISED BRACKET CLOCK BY SIMON DE CHARMES, LONDON, C.1720 the brass eight day single fusee repeating movement with a verge escapement, striking on one bell and repeating on two bells, the backplate with extensive engraved scrolling foliate decoration around a basket of fruit, on a brass dial with a silvered chapter ring with black Roman hours, fleur-de-lys half hours and Arabic five minutes, the matted centre with a silvered flowerhead false pendulum, the back of the aperture inscribed 'S. de Charmes, London', and a date aperture, beneath a silvered regulator dial to the arch, inside scrolling foliate and mask spandrels, the case with a bell top, brass handle and silk backed sound frets, with a pendulum 41.5cm high Catalogue Note Simon De Charmes was a French Huguenot who arrived in London after the revocation of the Edicts of Nantes in 1685. He quickly established himself as a clock and watch maker at the ‘Sign of the Clock’ in Charing Cross. He was first recorded in 1688 and was granted freedom from the Clockmakers’ Company in 1691, working closely with other makers including Claude Du Chesne. For examples of Simon De Charmes work being sold at auction, see Bonhams, 12th December 2006, Fine Clocks, lot 94, and 14 December 2016, Fine Clocks, lot 98. For published examples see Cescinsky & Webster, English Domestic Clocks, p.279 Figs. 299, and 300 that shows a similarly engraved backplate and border. Others are illustrated in Richard C.R. Barder, The Georgian Bracket Clock, pls. I/3, VII/17 and colour pl. 3.

Estim. 1 500 - 2 000 GBP

Lot 234 - λ A TORTOISESHELL LONGCASE CLOCK BY JOHN MILLER, LONDON, LATE 17TH / EARLY18TH CENTURY AND LATER the brass eight day movement with six knopped pillars, with an outside countwheel and an anchor escapement, striking on a bell, the backplate with an anchor-shaped cut-out, the brass dial with a silvered chapter ring with black Roman hours and fleurs-de-lys half hour markers and a narrow minute chapter ring with Arabic five minutes, the matted centre with a subsidiary seconds dial and date aperture, inside winged cherub head spandrels and an engraved border, the lower edge inscribed 'John Miller Londini Fecit', the hood with a square glazed door flanked by barley twist columns, the trunk with a rectangular door with a circular lenticle, on a panelled base with shaped feet, with two weights and a pendulum, the movement and case possibly associated 210cm high Catalogue Note John Miller was apprenticed to Samuel Knibb in 1667 and, on Knibb's death, to Knibb's cousin Joseph being declared Free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1674. The present movement shows a number of similarities to movements by Joseph Knibb including the thin plates, form of the turned pillars and the anchor escapement cut-out in the back plate. See Sotheby's London, 17th May 2022, Furniture, Silver, Clocks and Ceramics, lot 13 for a related longcase clock by John Miller with a similar dial and movement features including the numerals and markers and anchor escapement cut-out in the backplate.

Estim. 4 000 - 6 000 GBP

Lot 268 - A RARE FRENCH GILT BRASS KEYLESS PETITE SONNERIE CARRIAGE CLOCK BY LE ROY & FILS, LATE 19TH CENTURY the brass eight day movement with repeat and alarm mechanisms, the silvered platform lever escapement wound via a handle to the underside, stamped 'Le Roy & Fils, Patent No.9501, chiming the quarters on two gongs and the hours on one gong, the backplate and underside stamped with the serial number '11223', the enamelled dial with black Roman hours above an ivorine subsidiary alarm dial, the serpentine gorge case with Corinthian column corners, with bevelled glass enclosing fretwork panels and a hinged handle, a 'Silence Sonnerie' lever to the underside, with its original burgundy leather bound travelling case inscribed under the cover 'Le Roy & Fils, 57 New Bond Street, London, Made in France', the underside gilt stamped '11223' (2) 11cm high Catalogue Note Keyless or bottom winding clock movements were an innovation patented by Le Roy et Fils. The going and striking trains are wound alternately by winding the fixed key first in one direction and then the other. This avoids the need for a separate key and also enables both winding functions to take place at once. For a full discussion, see Alix and Bonnert, Carriage Clocks, their History and Development, pp.219-221, they state that 'examples with bottom-winding seem without exception to have been prior to the year 1900. Perhaps significantly, the 57 New Bond St. address, with or without the Palais Royal, will usually if not always be found on bottom-winding clocks.'

Estim. 700 - 1 000 GBP