Christopher Gould, London Circa 1967 An exceedingly fine s

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Play, download and edit the free video Christopher Gould, London Circa 1967 An exceedingly fine special Type 2 Mulberry full Grande Sonnerie longcase.

Exhibit № 34
Christopher Gould, London
Circa 1697

An exceedingly fine and important William III full Grande Sonnerie ‘mulberry’ veneered longcase clock
The ‘special’ Type 2 case attributed to Tompion’s casemaker

Height
8 foot 4½ inches (2544 mm)

Case
The case in ‘mulberry’ veneers (burr field maple, treated with nitric acid and lamp-black) inlaid with cross-banded Princes wood, framed by ebony and boxwood lines onto an oak carcass, and of Tompion’s ‘special’ Type 2 format, with a dial door and no mask, and transitional forward sliding hood. The four-sided caddy top, with ‘Regal’ flat front-and-back bell-shaped upstand, surmounted by a pedestal with brass urn and flame finial and flanked by two matching pedestals and finials. The cross-grain cornice moulding above a frieze with fine pierced wood sound frets, supported by brass-capped Doric three-quarter columns flanking the hood door, with matching quarter columns to the rear hood uprights. The hood resting on concave throat mouldings, above the rectangular trunk door with spectacular veneers, Princes wood cross-banding and cross-grain half-round frame. The trunk door surround and sides all with matching inlays, the cross-grain cyma-block base moulding, crowning the similarly cross-banded and veneered plinth, raised on a matching single skirting.

Dial
The 12 inch (305 mm) lacquer-gilt brass dial with double-wheatear engraved border signed centrally within, Christop=Gould Londini Fecit, along the lower edge, and strike control, S/N, also within at XII. The silvered chapter ring with inner quarter divisions, Roman hours and fleur-de-lys half-hour marks, the outer division ring with every Arabic minute shown outside. The matted centre with seconds ring below XII, engraved and chamfered calendar aperture above VI, and ring-turned winding holes. Elaborate winged cherub and foliate spandrels, very finely pierced and shaped fancy blued steel hands, the hour with a pierced boss centre, and four pinned dial feet.

Duration
8 days

Movement
The massive rectangular movement with nine pinned finned baluster pillars, going train with anchor escapement, backplate pallet cut-out, and one second pendulum with lenticular brass bob; the quarter train governed by a rack and snail and striking on six graduated quarter bells mounted on a horizontal bell-stand with shaped quarter hammer and spring assembly, both bridging the plates in Tompion’s format, the rack and snail hour train striking on the larger bell mounted above. The whole strike silenced via a lever through the dial at XII. Three brass cased weights, the quarter weight later extended.

Escapement
Anchor with one second pendulum

Strike Type
Rack and snail full Grande Sonnerie

Provenance
Private collection UK;
Anthony Woodburn, 2001, sold for £185,000;
The John C Taylor Collection, inventory no.73

Exhibited
2003, Oxford & Liverpool, Horological Masterworks, exhibit no.45;
2004, Holland, Paleis Het Loo, Huygens’ Legacy, exhibit no.85

Literature
Dawson, Drover & Parkes, Early English Clocks, 1982, p.214, 215 & 288, pl.287, 288, 398 & 399 (illus.);
Antiquarian Horology, Autumn 1989, Winterton, ‘English Grande Sonnerie Clocks’, p.309;
Horological Masterworks, 2003, (illus.) p.200-203;
Huygens’ Legacy, 2004, (illus.) p.248-9

Christopher Gould (active from 1682, died 1718)
It is not known when, where or to whom Gould was born, but a clue may be given by an apprentice he took later, Charles Gould in 1701, who may have been a relation and was from Middlemarsh in Dorset, the son of a blacksmith. Gould’s first entry into the Clockmakers’ was as a Free brother in 1682, presumably by redemption, and named as a Great (Turret) clockmaker which, like his possible relation, hints at a smithing background. Gould’s known signed work is of invariably of high quality, as is testified by this exceptional longcase clock. By 1701, he was working near the north east corner of the Royal exchange. He was made Beadle in 1713 and from that time he received regular Clockmakers’ charity (pension) until he died in 1718, when his wife was chosen as pensioner in his place.

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