Keeping Time

Object: Tall Case Clock, c. 1795-1810

Ascension #: 1937.0001

     Furniture is what defines a room and there is no piece of furniture that makes its presence known more than a clock. According to one historian writing on the subject of clocks, “unlike other antiques, the clock is peculiarly alive—its friendly face, peaceful tick and faithful record of hours over generations of time and creates a bond between past and present”.  This Federal Tall Case Clock made by Simon Willard of Roxbury, Massachusetts stands a majestic 8.5 feet tall in the lower passage of the Wilton House. The Randolphs may have owned a clock similar to this.  If so it would have had a prominence in the house such as where this one does today.  As denoted by another historian, “if ever something could be defined as the focal point of an entire house—circa 1800… is chances are it would be a tall case clock.”

     This clock is ornate from top to bottom—its arched hood with three plinths or chimneys on which rests brass half dome finials, carved fretwork, and saw toothed decoration flanked by stop-fluted brass mounted columns with brass Corinthian capitals. The face of the clock has a white painted dial with calendar, date and second registers, centering the painted inscription “Simon Willard”. The spandrels on the face have female figures representing the seasons and at the top of the face there is purple painted flora. The clock face is behind a glass wooden framed door. In addition, this part of the clock has a glass window on each side through which can be seen the clock’s gears and other moving parts. The trunk or middle of the clock has a pendulum door with a bellflower and fan inlay, and is also flanked with columns having Corinthian capitals. The base panel has a central leaf with a beetle peeking coyly from beneath the leaves. The whole clock rests on ball feet and is made out of a variety of woods including mahogany, boxwood, cherry, tropical hardwood, and white pine.

     Its maker, Simon Willard, was born on his family’s farm in Grafton, Massachusetts. It was there that his eldest brother Benjamin built a workshop next to the house. It is thought this is where he taught his younger brothers, including Simon, the art of making timepieces and the science of measuring time, known as horology. Simon eventually opened his own clock business in Grafton. There he experimented to reduce the size of the timepieces that drove the clocks. Later he opened a workshop on Boston’s Roxbury St.  Simon and his brother Aaron, who also owned a workshop in the same neighborhood, got the parts and materials needed for their clock making businesses from nearby factories.  English suppliers were also a source for the materials used by Simon and his brother because the vital raw materials like brass were lacking in the early United States. Entire clock mechanisms were put into the mahogany clock cases made in Boston. One historian notes, “The clocks of Boston became a sign of status” due to their quality. 

     Simon Willard boasted on labels affixed on the inside of some of his clocks “These clocks are made in the best manner. They run for a year and they don’t wind up. We will give evidence that it’s much cheaper to buy new clocks than to buy old or second hand clocks. Simon Willard warrants all his clocks.”  Not only that, but Willard’s opinion according to one historian was that the clocks he made “had to be just so expensive that, after acquiring one, the people may be still able to furnish their fine homes”. His clocks were highly valued, especially for their precision, because he had “trained hands and a great eye, filling cogwheels without using marks”.  After 1802, Simon Willard only produced tall case clocks also known as long case clocks, by special commission. Willard clocks such as the one located at Wilton are examples of the Hepplewhite style which have inlay work and are more delicate in design than the Chippendale style.

     Clock-making in America first developed in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and then later in Connecticut, which became the birth place of mass produced clocks in about 1840. The earliest clocks produced were wall or hang-up clocks which had all of the clock movements, weights, and pendulums exposed.  The change to a tall case clock occurred in England from 1670-1700.  A hood was added to protect the clock movements and a case to hide the pendulums and weights. The inside of these tall case clocks were cable driven, with the weights being suspended by cables wrapped around a pulley mounted to the top of each weight.  Movements of Tall case clocks were mainly made of brass and ran for eight days.  These were lubricated with bacon grease and may have provided the origin of the children’s rhyme “hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock”.

     Three people were involved in the making of the clock: clockmaker who took care of the internal workings of the clock, cabinet maker who made the case, and artist who decorated the dial. There are many cases that were made by cabinet-maker Stephen Badlam for the Willard Brothers. This clock’s case may be one of them as Badlam owned a shop in Dorchester, Massachusetts.  A distinctive feature of Badlam cases are the way the pendulum doors are cut. The corners of the door are cut away and are highlighted with fan inlays.  Bedlam cases had fretwork not only on top, but frequently featured blind fretwork above the dial doors as well.

     Due to the labor and craftsmanship that went into making tall case clocks, they were considered luxury items often the most expensive object that could be found in a late 18th to 19th century home. The Randolphs were in the top 2% of the population due to their wealth and social status. There is no doubt that they could afford to own a tall-case clock similar to this Simon Willard clock whose distinctive character cannot be fully appreciated unless seen in person, which is dally at the top of the hour when its melodic chime strikes the hour.

Bibliography

Distin, William H. and Robert Bishop. The American Clock: A Comprehensive Pictorial Survey

            1723-1900 with a listing of 6,153 clockmakers. Bonanza Books. New York, 1976.

“Simon Willard Clocks”. Wikipedia. 8 February 2012.  

            <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Willard_clocks>

“Tall Case Clock Terminology” Gary R. Sullivan’s Antiques Inc.

            <http://www.garysullivanantiques.com/Research/TallCaseClockTerminology.aspx#LiveTooltip[7]>

Chiarello, Leslie. “The Tall-Case Clock”.  11 August 2010. Dumbartonhouse.org. 8 February 2012.

            < www.dumbartonhouse.org/pdfs/Tall-case-clock-show.pdf>

“Horology” Dictionary.com. 8 February 2012.  <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/horology>

“Thread: Grand Wilton Simon Willard Tall Case”. National Association of Watch and Clock

Collectors, Inc. 8 February 2012. <http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?78320-Grand-wilton-simon-willard-tall-case/page2>