Lot 335

Daniel Delander

A very elegant exquisite London grandfather clock with one month power reserve, with hour strike, date display and auxiliary seconds, created by one of the best English clockmakers in the first half of the 18th century

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Delander pioneered this special style, which would be much copied by other makers during the 2nd half of the 18th century. The case has a particularly fine and graceful design and features an exquisite walnut/walnut root veneer with delicate boxwood inlays. The top section of this elegant longcase clock has the form of a segmental arch which is repeated for the head part as well as for the lower case door. Two lateral columns with brass foundations and capitals flank the arched dial, which is 36 cm high. The dial has an applied broad silvered chapter ring with petals and cherub heads in the spandrels and an exquisitely matted centre with engraved date window and seconds indication. Under the arch sits a silvered subsidiary chapter ring with a Strike/Silent lever for the strike mechanism on the left and another silvered subsidiary chapter ring with 60-minute division on the right for adjusting the length of the pendulum. The signature of the maker is displayed on a silvered cartouche between the two sub dials. The movement possesses a one-month power reserve, a strike at the full hour, on/off function for the strike and a length adjustment for the pendulum.

Daniel Delander (circa 1677-1733) was an important maker based in London and the descendant of a great clockmaking dynasty. From 1692 on he apprenticed first with Charles Halstead and later with Thomas Tompion, who taught Delander most of his skills and techniques. In 1699 he became a member of the Clockmakers' Company. He opened his own business in 1706 at the Dial in Devereux Court, where he was based until 1712. Then he moved to Two Temple Gates, worked there until 1717, when he moved to Fleet Street, to work there until his death in 1733.
Daniel Delander was an ingenious clockmaker with outstanding skills, who followed closely in his master Thomas Tompion’s footsteps. His work was usually very sophisticated with great attention paid to proportion, fine details and technical specification of the movements. Delander is credited with the invention of the double wheel duplex escapement, which he used in some of his longcase clocks.
The clocks have been calibrated for intervals of six seconds instead of the usual five seconds and numbered consecutively.
Clocks made by Daniel Delander are kept at the Science Museum and at the Guildhall Museum in London as well as at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The British Museum (Ilbert Collection) owns the oldest clock with independent seconds hand, which Delander built in 1720.