Banjo Clock

Dateca. 1810

Artist/Maker Simon Willard (1753-1848)

MediumMahogany, gilt wood lower bracket, brass mountings; white pine secondary.

DimensionsOH: 40 1/2"; OW: 10 1/2"

Credit LineGift of the John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, Fund, Inc., through the generosity and interest of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, and members of the family

Object number1979-169

DescriptionBanjo clock with standard form round head, tapered waist, pendulum box, bracket. Gilded metal eagle finial on mahogany chimney that is quarter round on front and sides. Round head. Dial face white enamel over sheet iron Roman numerals of slender proportion placed near outer dial edge. Minute circle. Cast brass bezel over dial. Bezel retaining catch at left externally mounted (resembles a ship's belaying pin). Double cast brass side rails with diamond spacers flanking tapered waist; center diamonds missing at left and upper diamond missing at right. Cross-grained mahogany strips retain glass in waist and pendulum box. Reverse painting on glass. Decorative motif and theorem-like basket of foliage and fruit in gold on white background on waist. Polychrome harbor view and white ground on rectangular pendulum box glass. Wall bracket of gilded wood with ledge; eight spherules in place above tapered terminus. Backboard pine.
ProvenanceBassett Hall collection, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation from 1979 to the present. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd (at Bassett Hall), 1960-1979; Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., February 1937, by French & Company at American Art Assoc., Anderson Galleries Sale of Collection of Frederick Wellington Ayer, Bangor, Maine.