109th Auction
2023/11/18
Lot 337
John Berry
An unusual small George II London bracket clock with quarter hour/hour repeater, hour strike and date in an exceptionally fine, brass-framed, ebonised wooden case
Sold
John Berry's small bracket clock is an exceptionally fine example of the use of brass mounts combined with ebony casework. The brass frets are also noteworthy. The case features a real "bell top" (consisting of a convex shape resting on a concave one) with four flame-treated brass vases on the corners. The moulded gable above the arch dial is repeated above the side grilles. Four fluted pilasters decorate the top part. The moulded gable above the arch dial is repeated above the lateral grilles. Four fluted pilasters with unusual capitals decorate the slanting edges and rest on very distinctive double feet. The period-style arched brass dial has a matted centre with cut-outs for the date and the fake pendulum. The silvered chapter ring with Roman hours and Arabic minutes is surrounded by exquisitely worked silvered volutes and flower tendrils on a polished brass ground. The arch houses two silvered subsidiary chapter rings for the strike mechanism and regulation of the pendulum intersecting with the signature plate and a cherub's head.
This clock is illustrated and described in: Richard C. R. Barder "The Georgian Bracket Clock", Woodbridge 2001, pp. 66-68.
John Berry junior is listed as a member of the Clockmaker's Company 1728-1754. His father of the same name was apprenticed to John Ebsworth as a clockmaker in 1685.