Tall case clock

Date1770-1780

Maker James Huston

Possibly by Joseph Ray (w.c. 1767-1799)

Possibly by John Price (w.c.1780-1797)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Augusta County, Staunton

MediumBlack walnut, yellow pine, tulip poplar, iron, brass, and steel

DimensionsOH: 98"; OW: 22 1/4"; OD: 12 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1992-124,A

DescriptionAppearance: Tall case clock with broken scroll pediment of cove molding surmounting a thin dentiled inner element and terminating in carved rosettes. Turned compressed ball and spire finials mounted on a center plinth integral with the pediment and on square side plinths. Arched hood door is flanked by free-standing columns with two fluted sections separated by a turned bead; rear free-standing half columns with turned center bead and no fluting. Hood side panels with glazed windows which match the shape of the hood door.

Rectangular trunk door with indented upper corners and overlapping thumb nail molded edges is flanked by fluted quarter-columns. The raised rectangular base panel with indented corners is also flanked by fluted quarter columns. The base rests on ogee bracket feet.

The arched clock dial is of cast-brass with a silvered front surface, and engraved “C” scroll and leaf flourishes in the center of the dial between the seconds dial (above the hands) and the curved date aperture (below the hands). Matching engraving on either side of the vine and flowered encircled nameplate in arch with the engraved words “Jas: Huston. / Augusta”. Engraving on the corners of the dial is similar but less elaborate.

Construction: On the hood, the coffin-shaped top board assembly consists of three thin boards butt-nailed together at the center and flush-nailed on the ends to the side panels that are rabbeted at the rear to receive the back board. The top board assembly rests at the front on a shaped board that is flush-nailed to the back of the tympanum and arched along its lower edge to correspond to the glazed door. The laminated cornice, which is glued and nailed in place, consists of a heavy molding that surmounts a thin dentiled inner element. Behind the cornice, the top of the tympanum terminates in sharp unfinished scrolls, and the rosettes are backed by individual nailed-on round blocks. The plinths are tenoned into the top of the cornice, with an additional support block behind the central plinth. Glued to the upper part of the glazed inner side panels are two-part laminated outer side panels. The inner side panels are tenoned into the runners, which are mortised and tenoned at the corners and faced with a glued- and nailed-on molding. The rear half-columns are tenoned into the runners and nailed at the top into a rabbet cut into the back of the outer side panel. The fully turned front columns are tenoned top and bottom, with the top joint additionally secured by nails. The joined inner door frame is nailed into a rabbet on the front of the inner side panel. The pinned mortised-and-tenoned glazed door swings on flat brass hinges.

On the trunk and base, the one-piece back board is wrought-nailed into the rabbeted case sides and extends nearly to the floor. The side panels project above the shoulder molding into the hood area to support the seat board that sits in a rabbet created by cutting away the front three-quarters of the side panels to a depth of one and one-half inches. Hood kickers are nailed to the outside surfaces of the upper side panels. The quarter-columns are flush-mounted to the sides and to the pinned mortised-and-tenoned door frame. Curiously, the left column is vertically laminated and the right is made of solid wood; both are secured in place by the glued- and nailed-on shoulder and base moldings. The base panel is set into a pinned mortised-and-tenoned frame. Also mounted to this frame and to the side panels are the nailed-on quarter-columns. The waist moldings are nailed onto the base, while the base molding is glued and nailed in place. The bottom boards are nailed into rabbets, and the base panels, including the attached columns, are shaped at the bottom to form backing blocks for the bracket feet.

The clock features an eight-day weight-driven tall case movement with an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds-beating pendulum. A rack-and-snail striking system sounds the hours on a bell. The twelve-inch cast-brass, arched dial has a silvered front surface. There are blued-steel hour, minute, and seconds hands. A date aperture appears below the dial center.

The plates are cast brass with all surfaces hammered, filed, and scraped, and visible surfaces stoned. Four cast and turned brass pillars are riveted into the backplate and pinned at the front plate. Steel seat board screws are threaded into the bottom pillars. The brass tube barrels are grooved and have applied end plates pinned in place. Tailed steel clicks are threaded into the great wheel, and plain brass click springs are riveted in place. Plain brass collets are secured with pins through the barrel arbors, an unusual departure for a British-style movement. The cast-brass wheels are of normal thickness with standard epicycloidal teeth. The center and third wheels are mounted on pinions; the rest are on plain, stepped brass collets. The wheels have four-arm crossings. There are cut pinions and parallel arbors. Pallets of nineteenth-century pattern are mounted with a stepped D-collet. The round steel crutch-rod has a closed-end fork and is riveted into the pallet arbor. The back-cock has two steady pins. The seconds pendulum has an unusually thin, round steel rod and a four-inch brass-faced lead bob. The striking system has a hammer and combination hammer spring/counter mounted against the backplate. There is a three-and-one-half-inch bell-metal bell, the standard of which is screwed to the outside of the backplate. The conventional motion work is uncrossed and has a minute wheel and brass pinion running on a start screwed into the front plate. The bridge is square-ended. There is a twelve-hour date work. Four rough-cast brass dial feet are pinned to the front plate. There are standard cast-brass pulleys with riveted brass stirrups.

Materials: Black walnut hood runners, hood kickers, and all exposed parts of hood, trunk, and base; yellow pine top boards, back board, and bottom boards; tulip poplar seat board; iron, steel, and brass movement.
Label TextThe movement of this clock, which features an exceptionally fine silvered brass dial, is one of many eighteenth-century objects made in the central Valley of Virginia by Pennsylvania-trained artisans. The maker was James Huston, a Philadelphia silversmith, clockmaker, and gunsmith who moved to Augusta County in the late 1750s. The Pennsylvania character of Huston's work is especially obvious when this dial is compared with Philadelphia-made examples.

The strong influence of German craft traditions on this clock is not surprising given the concentration of German immigrants in both Philadelphia and western Virginia. The engraving on the dial is particularly reminiscent of the German rococo taste as seen in the repetitive--almost staccato--flourishes adjacent to the name plate and within the chapter ring. These passages differ considerably from British and French versions of the rococo style, which are more flowing and curvilinear in nature. Another expression of German taste on the dial is the delicate vine-and-flower engraving that encircles the nameplate, a motif found on ceramics, painted pieces, and other German-American artifacts. The fylfot at the center of the seconds dial is closely associated with German and Swiss art as well, and appears on countless German-American productions.

Several structural aspects, including the heavy scale of the individual parts, of the Augusta County case are also linked to German traditions. The carcass is built from boards nearly an inch thick, while those on British-inspired clocks from eastern Virginia are made from stock less than half that thickness. The coffin-shaped top boards on the hood of the Augusta clock also mimic those on Pennsylvania-German models, as does the exposed construction. While the Augusta hood lacks the visible dovetails on many Valley and Pennsylvania-German clocks, the rest of the case features the prominent joint pins so characteristic of German woodworking.

In marked contrast to these German structural features is the overall design of the Augusta case, which echoes the British prototypes then popular in Philadelphia. Rooted in early eighteenth-century British Palladian design principles, the case has ogee bracket feet, a raised base panel, fluted quarter-columns, and a thumbnail-molded trunk door with indented upper corners. Similar features on many Valley clock cases were inspired by eastern Pennsylvania joiners and cabinetmakers who migrated into the southern backcountry.

That the James Huston case represents an Augusta shop rather than an import from Philadelphia is confirmed by the survival of several closely related Augusta cases, some by the same woodworker and some apparently from allied shops. Although the artisan who made the Huston cases is unknown, it is likely that he also produced architectural woodwork since the carved rosettes on the overmantel of a Staunton house built in 1791 are closely akin to those on the Augusta clock cases.

The combination of British and German craft traditions is also discernible in the construction of James Huston's movement. The eight-day hour-strike system with a seconds hand and date works resembles a common British type. Also in the British manner, the exposed faces of the cast front and backplates were hammered, scraped, and stoned, while the front face of the front plate was only hammered and scraped because it would be covered by the dial. This time-consuming approach reveals Huston's urban training and his understanding of sophisticated British clock production. At the same time, German-American influences are seen in the unusually long rack hook and its attachment on the right side of the movement rather than on the left, as on British examples. Still other features of the movement are apparently local expressions. For instance, the dial feet were taken straight from the casting molds and attached to the movement with little effort to clean them up, and the use of cut pinions is typical of many rural southern clocks.

There is still much to be learned about James Huston, particularly his activities outside the clockmaking trade. In the meantime, this clock serves as a clear testament to the cultural diversity and high quality of workmanship in the central Valley of Virginia.

InscribedThe movement is engraved "Jas: Huston. / Augusta." The inside left panel of the trunk is inscribed "Cleaned Oct. 17, 1844 / S. W. Green / Oiled Oct. 10, '45 / Oiled Oct. 26, '46 / Oiled Jan. 28, '48 / S. W. Green / Oiled Sept. 16, 1854 / Cleaned 8-20-56 / Henry W. Bagley / Oiled 8-28-57 / 1-19-63 / Oiled Dec. 18. '55." Inscribed in pencil on the back board is "Cleaned Feb. 21th, 1849 / S. W. Green / Oiled 4-17-50 / Oiled 4-21-51 / Oiled 6-11-52 / Oiled 6-25-53." Inscribed in pencil on the door is "Oiled 4-17-66" followed by an illegible name.
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceNothing is known about the early history of the clock, although the pencil inscriptions left inside of the case by those who serviced the movement offer some clues. From 1844 through 1854, "S. W. Green," possibly Sylvester W. Green, regularly oiled and cleaned the movement. Sylvester W. Green was a kinsman of Josiah B. Green, a watch- and clockmaker in Leesburg, Va., the seat of Loudoun Co. in the northern Piedmont.11 In the later 1850s and early 1860s the clock was serviced by Henry W. Bagley. An individual of that name appears in the 1850 census as a resident of Prince Edward Co. in the southern Piedmont.12 It should be noted that many clock repairmen were itinerants who traveled an annual circuit.13 The clock was purchased by a Virginia collector from Pennsylvania antiques dealer C. L. Prickett in 1987. CWF acquired the piece from the collector in 1992.

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