Posts Tagged ‘flower heads’

A wall clock is simply a clock that can be fixed to a wall. Lantern clocks of the late 16th and 17th centuries were the first domestic wall clocks, but from the early 18th century large wall-hung clocks were made for taverns, inns, and other public buildings. Wall clocks of the 18th and 19th centuries range from elaborate, gilded French cartel clocks to the mass-produced, wooden-cased clocks of the USA.
LANTERN CLOCKS
A lantern clock is a weight-driven wall clock that strikes the hour on a bell. It is especially associated with Britain, where it was first made c.1620, but versions were also produced in continental Europe and Japan. Made almost entirely from brass – “lantern” may be derived from the old English word “fatten”, meaning brass – the clock resembles a domestic lantern: the square brass case has four small ball or urn feet, an engraved dial plate, three pierced frets, and a bell, covered by four straps and topped with a finial. The chapter ring, showing hours and quarter hours, was very narrow on the earliest examples and extended over the sides of the clock. In the dial’s centre are the maker’s signature and engraved designs – typically foliate scrolls and flower-heads – and often an alarm setting disc. The single hand is usually of iron but may be of brass or blued steel. Hands were “blued” by heating – this process not only strengthened them but also altered their colour to a dark blue-grey that was clearly visible against the dial.
Early lantern clocks were regulated by a balance wheel escapement, but after the pendulum was invented in the mid-17th century, most clocks were converted to or made with the more precise pendulum-controlled verge or anchor escapements. The verge escapement was especially popular throughout the 18th century with provincial makers. Lantern clocks went out of fashion in the early 18th century, but in the 19th century reproductions were made (and old clocks fitted) with spring-driven movements. Some clocks were refitted with balance wheel escapements as lantern clocks have become increasingly valuable in recent times.
TAVERN AND DIAL CLOCKS
Wall clocks for taverns, inns, assembly rooms, and public buildings were first produced in the 1720s.
The first such clocks are known as “tavern” clocks and sometimes erroneously as “Act of Parliament” clocks: in 1797 a tax on clocks and watches was instituted by the British Parliament (although repealed one year later), and this led to the popular misconception that these clocks were placed in taverns for customers who could not afford clocks in their homes. However, most tavern clocks predate this act by several decades. Measuring up to 76cm (30m) in diameter, and with a long trunk for the weight and pendulum, tavern clocks were designed to be seen clearly from a distance, and are usually only timepieces. The earliest examples from the 1720s have virtually square dials with arched tops; these developed into shield-shaped wooden dials. The numerals and chapter ring are usually gilt, and gilt designs
of flowers and scrolls feature in the corners of the dial, often with chinoiserie designs on the trunk.
Gilt finials sometimes ornamented the top of the case, but on some clocks these have broken off. Round dials were introduced in the mid-18th century: the dial itself was initially black with gold numerals, but from the 1770s a white dial with numerals and chapter ring in black was popular. As neither shield nor round dials had glass covers, the numerals and chapter ring are often worn away or repainted. Many round-dial tavern clocks also had black lacquered cases with chinoiserie decoration. From the 1790s lacquered tavern clocks declined and gave way to mahogany cases.
Dial clocks, made from the 1750s, became possibly the most popular style of clock ever produced. Simple in design, they consist of a round dial of engraved, silvered brass (18th century), painted wood (from c.1805), or painted iron (from c.1830), covered with glass and a brass bezel, and housed in a wooden case. The first dial clocks appeared with mahogany cases, but oak, walnut, and rosewood were also used in the 19th century, when these clocks were made by many British, German, and American firms to meet the demand for inexpensive timekeepers in offices, shops, and railway stations.
CARTEL CLOCKS
Cartel clocks are decorative, spring-driven wall clocks that were made in France, and to a lesser extent Britain, Austria, and Sweden, in the 18th and 19th centuries. “Cartel” is probably derived from the Italian word cartella, meaning “bracket”. The clock, with a verge or anchor escapement, typically featured a white-enamelled dial and a finely cast and gilded bronze or brass case. Elaborate, asymmetrical scrollwork, flowers, fruit, and shells are typical of mid-18th 18th century Rococo cases; more symmetrical Neo-classical designs of sunburst rays,masks, and urns were popular from the 1780s. Cartel clocks were produced in Britain on a limited scale from the 1730s to the 1770s; many are copies of French designs but are less exuberant than the Rococo originals.
AMERICAN WALL CLOCKS
Clockmaking began in New England c.1750 and was initially a very small industry, with parts such as dials Imported from Europe. In the early 19th century such clockmakers as Eli Terry (1772-1852) in Connecticut used streamlined methods of production and standard parts to mass-produce inexpensive clocks. As brass was expensive in the USA, movements as well as cases were often of wood. Most wall clocks from before c.1870 are weight-driven, with an anchor escapement.
Although many early American clocks were based on European designs, some distinctive new types were

created in the 19th century. In 1802 Simon Willard
( 17,53-1848) of Massachusetts invented the “banjo” clock, which featured simple but well-made brass movements and a white-painted metal dial. The long trunk, holding the weights and pendulum, was flanked by curved brass frets, with a box at the bottom decorated with verre eglomise (reverse-painted glass) panels. Only about 4,000 such clocks were produced and these are very collectable today.
Simon’s brother Aaron Willard (1757-1844) introduced a variant of the “banjo” clock, known as the “lyre” clock, which had a curving trunk of carved wood and a pendant-shaped bracket at the bottom of the case. In the mid-19th century the clockmaker Chauncey Jerome (1793-1868) of Bristol, Connecticut, designed an inexpensive, 30-hour duration shelf or wall clock known as the “OG” (ogee) clock, which took its name from the shape of the moulding around the dial and door. These mass-produced clocks had cheap brass movements, ogee-moulded veneered softwood cases, white-painted zinc dials, and verre eglomise panels. Early, rare American wall clocks are highly sought after in the USA.
Lantern clocks
• MOVEMENT a spring-driven mechanism indicates a clock made or altered in the 19th century
• CONDITION any shiny or artificially distressed parts are likely to be replacements; these should be good quality in order not to reduce the value
Tavern and dial clocks
• DESIGNS shield-shaped dials are typical of tavern clocks made between the 1720s and 1750s; later versions have round dials
• MOVEMENT dial clocks made before 1800 had verge escapements; anchor escapements were usual thereafter
• CONDITION some repainting of the numerals, chapter ring, and signature is common; clocks with extensive repainting should be avoided
Cartel clocks
• DESIGNS a gilt-bronze or brass case usually indicates a French make; most British versions are of carved, gilded wood
American wall clocks
• DESIGNS verre eglomise panels are typical
• LABELLING few are signed on the dial: instead they often have a label at the back of the inside case

Vincennes and early Sevres
The Meissen factory went into decline following the Seven Years War ( 1756-63) and was supplanted in terms of importance by the factory of Vincennes, later moved to Sevres near Paris. This factory was taken under royal control, and its commercial interests were protected by royal edicts. Employing the finest artists of the day, the factory became the leading producer of porcelain in the Rococo style and, from the 1770s the more severe Neoclassical style.
VINCENNES
The Vincennes factory was established c.1740 at the chateau of Vincennes, with the help of runaway Workers from Chantilly. The first director was Claude-Humbert Gerin ( 1705-50), who discovered the secret of producing a soft paste that was much whiter and finer than that used by earlier French factories.
In 1745 Louis XV granted the factory a 20-year exclusive privilege to produce porcelain. The earliest wares, primarily influenced by Meissen, are heavy in form and painted with small flower sprays, often combined with gilt trellis and scrollwork borders, or landscape and figure scenes.
The painting can be distinguished from that of Meissen by its freer brushwork and a softer palette.
Among the more distinctive early products were porcelain flower-heads, which were bought by marchands-merciers (dealers in luxury products) and mounted on metal stems. These flower arrangements were placed in vases or used to embellish such items as lamps, clocks, and chandeliers. Figures were made on a limited scale in the 1740s and were usually simply glazed. Popular subjects included birds, animals, nymphs, hunters, and children or putti.In
1748 the goldsmith Jean Claude Chambellan Duplessis ( 1690-1774) was hired to create new forms in the Rococo taste. He designed lighter and more elegant shapes that show the influence of contemporary silver. In 1752 the painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724-1806) was hired as artistic director; he introduced lighthearted, designs of children in the style of the Rococo painter Francois Boucher, and fanciful birds. In 1753
the King granted a new privilege to Vincennes and issued an edict restricting rival factories in their use of subjects, colours, and gilding. In 1751-2 the factory pioneered the fashion for biscuit, or unglazed, porcelain in Europe. Bachelier abandoned the production of small, freely modelled figures in favour of three-dimensional, sculptural pieces designed by such artists as Boucher.
EARLY SEVRESIn
1756 the factory moved to the chateau of Sevres, near Paris. The quality of the paste and gilding was strictly controlled, and the King issued sumptuary laws banning the use of gilding by any other French porcelain factory in order to protect the commercial interests of Sevres. In 1768 deposits of kaolin were discovered in the Limoges region, enabling the factory to produce hard-paste porcelain.
A Cuvette a fleurs by Sevres
This basin was intended for holding flowers. It is possible that it was designed by Duplessis, who is credited as being responsible for many of the forms made at Sevres at this time.
(c.1757, ht 32.5crr/12Yin; value H)
During the late 1750s and the 1760s
Sculptors, goldsmiths, and designers created
larger and more ambitious pieces, such as the purely decorative vases a teted`elephants
(vases modelled with elephant
heads supporting candlesticks), and other
decorative items, such as pear-shaped ewers
with flat covers. In addition to coloured
grounds, the factory introduced several
patterned grounds in the late 1760s: oeil de
perdrix (”partridge eye”), cailloute (”pebbled”), and verinicule (”worm-cast”). The reserve panels are often filled in, with little of the white porcelain left showing, contrasting with the more spare decoration employed at Vincennes. However, large, functional services, tend to have less elaborate painting – typically, small scattered flowers, which are more stylized than those used at Vincennes. Biscuit was the most popular medium for figures and the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconer (1716-91), chief modeller between 1757 and 1766, continued the tradition of charming, if sometimes rather sentimental groups of children, lovers, and allegorical subjects.
Vincennes
• BODY Soft-paste porcelain
• STYLE copies of Meissen; later, Rococo wares
• unglazed with tree stump, rockwork, or vase supports in the 1740s; after 17-51 three-dimensional, crisply modelled biscuit figures
Early Sevres
• BODY soft-paste porcelain
• STYLE delicate and elegant Rococo
• DECORATION patterned as well as plain, coloured grounds reserved with typically Rococo themes within fine gilt frames
• FIGURES sentimental biscuit figures and groups of . lovers and children, inspired by Boucher’s paintings Marks
Vincennes: interlaced “L”s without a date
letter were used from c.1740
1740 to 1752
Sevres: the first date letter was introduced in
17-53 the letter “H” is for 1760

Imari Porcelain
Imari is a port on the eastern coast of the island of Kyushu. The name has become associated with a certain type of porcelain, but it has two different Interpretations, one used in Japan and the other in the West. The Japanese terms Shoki and Ko Imari describe blue-and-white wares made in Arita. However, what is generally known in the West as “Imari” is export porcelain decorated in a palette that usually includes underglaze blue, iron-red, and gilding.
There are also other categories beyond the conventional colour scheme; for or example, “green family” Imari is dominated by green, with red or other colours being used in a minor role. Kenjo Imari (presentation ware) is
- sub-group,
another -group, which uses a similar palette but with a more formal arrangement of panelled zones of colour.
Initially developed in the second half of the 17th century, the Imari style matured c.1800.
The finest examples of the style feature a complex symphony of overlapping geometric or leaf-shaped panels often decorated with conflicting themes, as seen in the vase and cover below. Unfortunately the variety of these anti-rational patterns makes it difficult to categorize and present a chronology for this group of wares. Much decoration appears to be based on brocade a rich silk textile run through with gold or silver thread. The majority of Imari wares are decorative, with pieces intended for display en masse. In the late-17th and 18th centuries the most common objects made were high-shouldered, dome-covered jars, trumpet-shaped beaker vases, and saucer dishes. Tea and coffee wares were alsc produced, but these are scarce.
WEAR AND TEAR
Arita porcelain, particularly blue-and-white and Imari, is generally extremely robust and not easily cracked, unlike its more fragile Chinese counterpart. However, although Arita ware is strong, its softish, pale, greyish-blue glaze may be more easily scratched than that of Chinese wares. Some of the Arita export porcelains have crackled glazes, and an intended purchase must be carefully examined to make sure that the body itself is not cracked.
• PALLETTE the basic Imari palette comprises underglaze blue, which can be an intense, almost black, colour or a pale grey, iron red, and gold; other colours include yellow, manganese brown, green, and turquoise
• P0TTING Japanese porcelain is thickly potted and has a tendency to warp during firing, kiln supports were therefore used under the bases of even relatively small wares to prevent them from saggingCOPIES
• made in porcelain at Meissen and in tin-glazed earthenware particularly at Delft during the first third of the 18th centuryBEWARE
• some late-17th- and 18th-century Imari porcelain wares are inscribed with spurious Chinese reign marks

Korea’s close proximity to China has resulted in a marked Chinese influence in its ceramic production, ev ident in both the forms and the techniques used by potters. However, Korea has also produced stonewares and porcelains unique to its culture.
THE SILLA AND KORYO PERIODS
During the Silla kingdom (57 BC—AD 935) ceramic production in Korea consisted of grey- or brownish-bodied stonewares of distinctive architectonic form. Tall vessels with hemispherical bowls on an elongated spreading foot were decorated with geometric
windows and incised bands. Bowls were decorated with punched circlets, small repeated motifs, scratched geometric patterns, and, occasionally, animals or humans. Drawing inspiration from the Yue wares of south-eastern China, Korean potters developed celadon wares during the Koryo period (918-1392). Even if some of the forms are noticeably Chinese, there is almost always a distinctive Korean feel to them.
The green glaze is of a subtle tonality akin to the colour of the famous Ru wares of the northern Song Dynasty. However, er, the sangam celadons, which are painstakingly inlaid with black-and-white clays, are unique to Korea. A wide range of objects was made, including large blossom vases, ritual water ewers, and tiny covered boxes. Porcelain was also produced, albeit in very limited quantities, during the Koryo period.
CHOSON DYNASTY (1392-1910)
Developed from the sangam celadons of the Koryo period are the robust and often crude punch’ong wares, a greyish-green celadon-type stoneware made for about the first 200 years of the dynasty. Production ceased at the time of the invasion of Korea by the Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1592-8). The wares are decorated by stamping and washing through with slip. Decoration may feature tiny repeated motifs, flower-heads, or scrolls. Korean wares are generally very heavily potted with a curiously sticky glaze. The greyish-green glaze is thin, translucent, and mostly crackled, and it occasionally flakes. Choson whitewares were made throughout the period; earlier wares were often plain white, although many pieces can be painted in underglaze copper red, iron brown, or blue. Bulbous forms, often with faceted sides, are characteristic of the later Choson period, as are pierced vessels such as brushpots, pipe rests, and waterpots.
Early stoneware
• BODY dull dark grey or brown; potting tends to be very thick, and there is strong tendency for the items to warp
• FORMS “architectural”
• TYPES funerary wares
• DECORATION pierced and incised; often geometric patterns, rarely figures
celadon
• BODY generally a distinctive greyish blue-green like the classic Ru ware of the northern Song Dynasty
• GLAZE of greyish-olive tone; usually irregular; frequently crackled
• IDENTIFICATION celadon wares were fired on gritty kiln supports, often leaving crude patches on the underside of the foot-rim
• DECORATION the miniaturized inlay technique (sangam), using black-and-white clay, is unique to Korea
Porcelain
• BODY heavily potted; sometimes large pieces are warped or cracked; pierced and carved wares of the 18th and 19th centuries are very sophisticated
• GLAZE bluish or greenish irregularly crackled glaze
• DECORATION most common is the dragon; also cranes, tigers, and other animals
Marks
Most ceramics are unmarked before the late 19th century