William Wall, Richmond (London). Circa 1770, Moon-phases, rare dial with corner subsidiaries, flame mahogany 'pagoda' style case.

William Wall Richmond (London), Circa 1770, a fine and rare 8-day moon-phase clock with extra dial subsidiaries, in premium flame mahogany pagoda style case with silk-backed frets and brass insert pillars.

Fully working, movement cleaned and serviced. Complete with brass-cased weights, brass-faced pendulum, winder and keys for trunk and hood locks (both working).

Further notes

This is a rare clock, partly because London area moon-dials are rarer than provincial examples, additionally because of the rare dial format with subsidiaries for date and strike/ silent set into silvered spandrels in the upper corners. The ‘corner subsidiaries’ was a style sometimes used by Tompion and others from the early days of clockmaking and add a feel of sophistication to the dial. The engraved/ silvered corner ‘spandrels’ are very unusual and rare, the majority of clocks from this period retained the typical decorative brass variety.

William Wall is listed as working in Richmond before 1772. Richmond upon Thames is now part of Greater London being around 10 miles from the centre, before 1965 it was designated as Surrey but to all intents and purposes this is a London clock. The features of this clock date it to the 1760s, not later than 1770 I think. The movement is typical London quality with 5 knopped pillars, the plates have integral extensions at the top to support the wider spaced dial feet required for the moon disk.

The case is a superb example of London pagoda style, the height of fashion around this time. It has ‘full bell’ pagoda top, silk backed sound frets and brass decorated pillars, all signs of London quality. The flame mahogany is stunning with multi-colour patterns and a beautiful rich colour and polish. There is some wood movement, par-for-the-course really for genuine 250 year old cases, nothing too bad though. The trunk door has bowed out a little (you virtually always find this on this type of case) but closes and locks perfectly. The base panel has also bowed a little. Additionally some minor knocks and scrapes here and there.

As normal for London pagodas it is a fairly big clock. With the centre finial in place 101 inches, if this is removed 95 inches. Note that the finials are proper heavy Georgian examples, not cheap modern Chinese versions.

All in all a very nice, top quality, London clock with rare dial features and exquisite case.