William III Marquetry Longcase Clock, Fromanteel, London, c. 1700

An English longcase clock in walnut and burr walnut. The case is richly inlaid with floral marquetry in various woods.
The hood has a flat moulded cornice above a frieze carved with pierced foliate scrolls. The glazed hood door is crossbanded and inlaid with a fine border, and is flanked by turned columns. Below it, the convex throat moulding is inlaid with a trailing floral band. The long trunk door has three shaped reserves on an ebonised ground. Each is filled with flowers, foliage and birds issuing from stylised acanthus vases, framed by herringbone bandings. The plinth has a matching panel with a perched bird among flowers and stands on a moulded base.
The square brass dial has cast gilt spandrels at the corners and a silvered chapter ring with Roman hours, Arabic minutes and fleur-de-lys half-hour markers. The matted centre has a subsidiary seconds dial, a calendar aperture and ringed winding holes. The hands are blued steel. The two-train movement has an anchor escapement and strikes on a bell.
With pendulum.
The Fromanteel family were among the most important clockmakers of 17th-century London. Ahasuerus Fromanteel was the first to introduce the pendulum clock to England, in 1658.
Height: 207 cm
Provenance: Koller Auctions, Zurich, 26 June 2014, lot 4007.