CHARLES GRETTON, London
Description:
A small and rare ebony panelled longcase clock from the period of Charles II.
The case with plain base stands on replaced bun feet and rises via a long moulded and panelled door to the flat top rise up hood flanked by barley twist columns.
The eight-day, five pillar movement has an anchor escapement and the hours are sounded on a bell via an outside locking plate.
The 10 inch square dial is mounted with winged cherub spandrels and a silvered chapter ring and seconds ring. The centre is finely matted with an aperture to view the day of the month.
The signature Charles Gretton is applied to an original silvered plaque screwed to the dial plate beneath 6 o’clock.
Charles Gretton was an eminent maker working in London during the last quarter of the seventeenth century and the first quarter of the eighteenth century and became Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1701.
The fact that Gretton’s signature is applied to a plaque suggests he was possibly the retailer rather than the maker of this clock. He may have acquired the clock from another maker’s bankrupt stock, upon another maker’s death or quite simply a loyal customer requisitioned him to buy it on his behalf.
Clockmaker: CHARLES GRETTON, London
Circa: 1685
Stock Number: 4235
Height: 77 inches (195 cm.)