Description
A rare George lll painted and chinoiserie decorated longcase clock, circa 1770.
The eight day arched brass dial movement striking on a bell is signed John Draper, one of a large family of recorded* English clockmakers based in Essex, England: a region well known for its illustrious Georgian makers of clocks.
*See G.H. Baillie (Fellow of the Institute of Physics), Watchmakers And Clockmakers Of The World, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd (1929) p. 88.
This remarkable eighteenth-century blue ground long cased (or ‘’grandfather’’) clock survives in its original untouched state with its painted pendulum, winder and weights.
A highly decorative, well-proportioned antique clock illustrating two animated aristocratic couples gambling at cards in an 18th-century interior, with one panel illustrating flower arranging. Both are extremely rare subjects to find on a period clock case. In our 64 years’ experience we have recorded only one other similarly decorated example.
Nb. Betting during the 17th and 18th centuries was hugely popular amongst the wealthy aristocracy throughout Europe and England, and makes for fascinating reading. (Nb often with ruinous consequences as huge fortunes and landed estates were won and lost at the table.)
Literature:
The perils of play: Eighteenth-century ideas about gambling
www.histecon.magd.cam.ac.uk/docs/crump_perils.pdf
Scratching that itch: Gambling in the 18th Century
https://www.madamegilflurt.com/2016/06/scratching-that-itch-gambling...
Introduction: The Gambling Culture of Eighteenth-Century …
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230307278_1
The Romance of Gambling in the Eighteenth-Century British …
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gambling-Eighteenth-Century-Palgrave...
Ledger Legends: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire | Barclays
https://home.barclays/…/ledger-legends–georgiana–duchess-of-devonshire
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire – whose gambling addiction reportedly saw her rack up debts worth nearly £4,000,000 in today’s money. Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806) was an 18 th century English socialite …
Aristocratic Vice: The Attack on Duelling, Suicide …
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt32bvbw
Book Description: Aristocratic Viceexamines the outrage against-and attempts to end-the four vices associated with the aristocracy in eighteenth–century England: duelling, suicide, adultery, and gambling.Each of the four, it was commonly believed, owed its origin to pride. Many felt the law did not go far enough to punish those perpetrators who were members of the elite.
