IN ‘every room the encouragement given by his Majesty to ingenious constructors of time-pieces is apparent,’ wrote an anonymous visitor to Buckingham House in 1802. Among the timepieces on display in George III’s house at the turn of the 19th century that caught the eye of our unnamed commentator was an exceptional burr-walnut veneered and gilt-brass mounted longcase clock by leading English clockmaker Thomas Tompion. It had been made a century earlier for Queen Anne’s husband, Prince George of Denmark, and stood first in the State Bedchamber at Kensington Palace.
Technically ingenious—in addition to the time, it showed days of the month, signs of the zodiac and the position of the Sun, and ran for 390 days on a single winding— Tompion’s clock is also an extraordinarily handsome object, one of only about 650 clocks made during the 40-year lifespan of the workshop opened by the Bedfordshire blacksmith’s son near Fleet Street, in 1671. It reminds us, as dealer in antique clocks Tobias Birch explains, that the finest examples of the art represent ‘a collaboration between clockmakers, cabinetmakers and engravers to produce articles of mechanical excellence and great beauty’.
This collaboration reached its apogee in longcase clocks such as that made by Tompion for Prince George. Widely known as grandfather clocks, after Henry Clay Work published the popular song Grandfather’s Clock in 1876, such clocks (albeit less rarefied) were once a staple of British interiors: tall and freestanding, the case housing a swinging pendulum movement and hanging weights that each fulfil distinct functions, for example, the clock’s chime or hour strike.
この記事は Country Life UK の November 04, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の November 04, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds