Description:
Tall clock case supported by bracket feet and ornamented with scalloped quarter fans and round stringing on the base; oval stringing, three sets of inlaid glyphs above the slightly arched waist door, and engaged fluted quarter columns with wooden capitals and bases on the waist; all below a hood with a scrolled pediment surmounted by three brass finials above three more sets of inlaid glyphs, an arched, inlaid, and glazed door that closes over a painted brass dial with floral decoration flanked by standing fluted columns; the movement is an eight-day brass movement with a dead beat escapement and a strike/silent in the typanum of the dial, second hand, and calendar hand. Clocks by Daniel Porter are well made and relatively rare, because of his short working life. The fine neoclassical case is one of a small group made in the Bennington, Vermont- Williamstown, Mass. area.
Label Text:
Philadelphia Antique Show: The eight-day brass movement of this clock incorporates a deadbeat escapement designed to ensure timekeeping accuracy by briefly locking the movement with each swing of the pendulum. This tall clock also features a strike/silent lever in the tympanum of the dial used to silence the strike mechanism at night. Such features enhanced the clock as a kind of domestic machine and status symbol in a refined household. Soon after he turned 18, Daniel Porter apprenticed to East Windsor, Connecticut, clockmaker Daniel Burnap (1759-1838). Upon completing his seven-year training in 1800, he moved to Williamstown with his wife, Polly Badger, and established a shop with his nephew, Eli Porter, as an assistant. After Daniel died in 1809, Eli married his widow, took charge of his family (including two young children) and continued the business. Grow Up: By their teen years, many young people apprenticed with a craftsman to learn a trade and make a future living. Seventeen-year-old Daniel Porter signed an indenture of apprentice on February 18, 1793, with East Windsor, Connecticut, clockmaker Daniel Burnap (1759-1838). In Porter’s binding contract, he agreed to give Burnap his labor for the next four years as well as commit to behaving in an upright and moral manner by staying away from taverns and refraining from cards and dice. In return, Burnap promised to instruct Porter “in the art, trade, or calling of clockmaking, silversmithing, and watch repairing” and provide him with food and lodging. The skills Porter obtained during his apprenticeship allowed him to thrive on his own as a clockmaker when he later moved to Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he made the eight-day brass movement for this tall case clock.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+93.028 |
