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Lot Essay
This sumptuous table clock, unseen for over fifty years, is an important new addition to the small number of vase-shaped clocks by, or attributed to, the London maker William Carpenter (active 1770-1817). Catherine Pagani (Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity, University of Michigan, 2001, p. 190) notes three William Carpenters active in London towards the end of the eighteenth century, of which William of Soho (active 1770-1805) is possibly the most likely as the producer of these clocks for the Far Eastern trade. He was free of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1781 and a member from 1770-1817.
His oeuvre is typified by fine clockmaking and ormolu cases incorporating paste gems and vibrant blue enamels. (Ian White, English Clocks for the Eastern Markets, Ticehurst, 2012, pp. 228-238.)
THE WILLIAM CARPENTER VASE CLOCKS
Five other clocks of this type are known:
1 - Anonymous catalogue/advert, circa 1970-80 (White, op. cit. p. 238, fig. 8.29), movement signed ‘W. Carpenter’, 26 cm. high
2 - Bruun Rasmussen, 29-30 April 1980, movement signed ‘C. Penter’ 30 cm. high
3 - Sotheby’s, London, 20 July 1989, lot 507; Blenkendorf Collection 1992; Sotheby’s, London, 29 September 2005, lot 71, movement signed ‘Wm. Carpenter’, 26 cm. high
4 – From the Ionides Collection, Sotheby’s, London, 1 November 1963, lot 16, (£1,200 to Blairman); with Jeremy Ltd., London; movement signed ‘C. Penter, London’, 30 cm. high
5 - Bellmans, 12 May 2018, lot 1299, unsigned, later movement, 30 cm. high
Of these No.s 2 & 5 are a near pair and share the same style of twin handled vase as the present clock. No. 4 is of the same design but with a lattice pattern to the vase. No.s 1 & 2 share the same plinth base but with a samovar and domed top respectively. At 36 cm. high the present clock is the tallest of the group. The interior houses a glass jar within the vase and a hinged top finial indicating it may have been used as a brule parfum.
Carpenter’s tour de force is almost certainly his pair of ‘Carlton House’ clocks in the Palace Museum collection (Simon Harcourt-Smith, 1933, A catalogue of various clocks, watches, automata and other miscellaneous objects of European workmanship dating from the XVIIIth and the early XIXth centuries in the Palace Museum and the Wu Ying Tien, Peiping, p. 38, plate 14.) of which other examples are known such as that in the Victoria & Albert museum, London (M.1108-1926).