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Tall Case Clock

Date1815-1820

Maker John McKee

OriginAmerica, South Carolina, Chester

MediumMahogany, mahogany veneer, satinwood, yellow pine, and glass

DimensionsOH: 108 7/8"; OW: 19 5/8"; OD: 10 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund

Object number2010-64,A

DescriptionAppearance: Tall case clock with reverse arch or "pagoda" shaped top flanked by two oversized, out curving "C" scrolls; ends of "C" scrolls inlaid with pinwheels; tympanum inlaid with vertical rectangular reserve or plinth for central finial in alternating bands of light, dark, light woods; plinths for two side finials inlaid with ovals containing a leafy motif; three finials, the central one urn and spire shaped, the side two ball and spire shaped; top of arched hood door framed by arched molding; hood door flanked by engaged baluster shaped columns; second pair of the same at rear of hood sides; hood sides with glazed arched lunettes; trunk with fluted quarter columns; rectangular trunk door inlaid around perimeter with cross-banded satinwood inset about 1/2" from molded edge of door and oval inlay with Prince of Wales Feathers motif in center of door; molded bead defines top and bottom of trunk with broad cavetto moldings separating trunk from hood and base sections; base inlaid with cross-banded satinwood around perimeter and oval in center of base containing Prince of Wales Feather motif; line of cross-banded satinwood separates base from feet and skirt on front and sides; bracket feet straight on exterior corners, curved on interior corners to meet curve of serpentine front and side skirts; front skirt with double ogee shaped curves meeting in center with double pronged pendant element.

Dial:
White painted metal arched dial measuring 18 5/8”H x 13 1/8”W. Dial is 0.1” thick. Arch contains moon phase fronted by labeled hemispheric globes. Top of Arch has Arabic numbers from 1 through 29 ½ in increments of five with all numbers marked with hatches. Hours are marked with Roman numerals, minutes are Arabic in fifteen minute intervals with each minute marked by a dot. Arabic seconds dial with ten second intervals and all seconds marked with dots. Arched date aperture immediately below hour and minute hands. “John Mc. Kee.” In cursive and “CHESTER S.C. No. 19” in block caps immediately below date aperture. Dial outlined with three dimensional gold beads; painted spandrel ornaments of peaches, berries and leaves in four corners. Both ending holes are grommeted.

Movement description:
Eight-day brass time, strike, and calendar weight-driven movement measuring 6 1/4” H x 5 1/8” W. Plate thickness is 0.140” and clearance between front and back plates is 2.4”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds beat pendulum. A rack-and-snail strike sounds the hours on a 4.4” diameter cast bell.

Four highly polished brass pillars are riveted into the back plate and pinned at the front plate. The movement is fastened to the seat board in an unusual method. Steel hooks usually hook over the bottom movement pillars and are fastened under the seat board by nuts. In this case they hook into holes at the bottom center of the front and back plates. The brass time and strike barrels are grooved for the weight cords. All time and strike train wheels and motion work have four-arm crossings. The round steel crutch-rod has a closed-end fork. The pendulum bridge base is an inverted trapezoid shape. It is fastened to the back plate with two screws and two locator pins. The bell stand is screwed to the outside of the back plate to the left of the pendulum bridge.

There are standard cast-brass pulleys with riveted steel stirrups. The overall length of the pendulum is 43”. The pendulum rod is 0.15” diameter steel. The bob is cast iron with a brass face. It is 4.6” diameter and 0.85” thick at its center. The pendulum adjustment nut is hexagonal brass. The weights are cylindrical cast iron with cast in metal hooks. They are both 12 ¼” long and weigh 15 pounds each. One is 2 3/8” diameter. The other is 2 ½” diameter.

Construction: On the hood, the flat top board is nailed to the top edge of the upper side panels and rear top rail. The rear top rail is dovetailed into the upper side panels which, in turn overlap and are screwed from the inside to the lower side panels.

Rosettes are inset in the scrolled terminals of the pediment and veneered with a pieced pinwheel.

The finials have round tenons. The center finial rests on a plinth that is dovetailed into the pediment. A panel with band inlay is glued and nailed immediately underneath to form a faux plinth. The smaller side finials rest in holes in the top of each end of the pediment panel and blocks behind. Panels with molding along the top edge and oval inlays are glued and nailed below again to form a faux plinth.
The lower side panels are quadruple tenoned into the mortise and tenon joined bottom frame and have glazed windows set in interior rabbets formed by nailed and glued quarter rounds. The hood door is of mortise and tenon construction with glass set in similar quarter round formed rabbets.

The tenon joined arched interior frame behind the door is nailed to the lower side panels, screwed from the back to the arched spacer board and has multiple glue blocks joining it to the lower side panels and front bottom rail. The spacer board has a glue block on each side joining it to the side boards.

The front turned columns are through pinned to the side bottom rails and probably pinned to the bottom of the upper side panels. The back turned quarter columns are pinned to the side bottom rails and the bottom of the upper side panels.
Molding on the hood is glued and nailed in place.

On the trunk, the vertically grained backboard is nailed into rabbets on the backs of the side panels. It extends to the top of the hood and is chamfered at the bottom to fit into a dado in the bottom board of the base. Flankers have been nailed to the edges of the backboard on the top section to accommodate the width of the hood.

The shoulder molding (beneath the hood) is glued in place. The mahogany side panels extend above the shoulder into the hood to form a support for the seat board. Lath is nailed to their outer faces to provide a guide for the hood. The sides extend inside the base at which point they are triple dovetailed to pine boards that extend to and are double mortised into the bottom board of the base.
The front corner assemblies of the trunk consist of the main fluted quarter columns butt joined at the top and bottom to square plinths, glued to the stiles on one side and to the trunk side boards on the other, with the latter joints reinforced with a series on glue blocks. The bottoms of the stiles rest on the front top rail of the base. Top and bottom rails are mortised and tenoned into the stiles to frame the trunk door. The door is comprised of a single mahogany board with top and bottom triple through mortised into battens, veneered with inset banding and an oval central inlay. Face molding is nailed and glued at the edges.

On the base, the front and side panels are mahogany with an inlaid band and oval on the front. The sides appear to be butt joined and glued to the front panel (it is possible, but not likely that they are dovetail or miter joined; band inlay hides the joint). The joining is reinforced on the inside with a series of closely spaced glue blocks. The sides are dovetailed to the bottom board to which the front board is butt joined with a series of closely spaced glue blocks. At the top, the front panel is glued to an interior top rail that extends side to side and the sides are glued to interior side rails. The side rails may be lap-joined to the front rail or possibly simply butt joined and glued. The waist molding is nailed to the front and side rails as is the quarter-round molding at its base. In the back, flanker blocks to accommodate the width of the base appear to be simply glued to the sides of the base and butt joined but not nailed or glued to the extended trunk sides, the base side rails and the base bottom board.

On the platform that supports the base, the back and side rails are mortised into the back legs and the side and front rails are mitered and mortised into the front legs. Half-inch lath is nailed to the top edge of the front and side rails and in turn nailed to the bottom of the base bottom board. An inlayed band covers the outer edge of the lath.

(A) Tall case clock- case
(B) Movement
(C) Pendulum
(D) Weights
Label TextBackcountry cabinetmakers could more easily diverge from the high style furniture designs popularized in urban areas because they were often outside the sphere of influence of those style centers. The top of this upcountry South Carolina clock displays the artistry and whimsy of the unknown case maker who chose not to follow a standard design for his clock’s pediment. Yet below that unique top, the case looks very much like a New England example. The rectilinear trunk door with its delicate molded edge and lightwood banding flanked by fluted quarter columns as well as the square base panel outlined in lightwood inlay and the French feet are features seen on Massachusetts cases like that retailed by William McCabe of Richmond, Virginia (right). Indeed, there are a handful of labeled Aaron Willard clocks from Roxbury, Massachusetts, that also have the label of John McKee of Chester, South Carolina; McKee, like McCabe, was retailing imported clocks with or without cases. The maker of this South Carolina clock case must have been familiar with the New England examples and incorporated some but not all of their features into his own unique design.
MarkingsOn white painted dial: "John McKee/ CHESTER, S.C. No. 19"
ProvenanceThis clock descended in the Pheifer-Quinn family of Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the last owner, William Pfeifer Quinn Jr., "The clock...was in the Pheifer House in Charlotte, North Carolina during the Civil War. When my paternal grandfather married Minnie Phifer, thru the years they came in to possession of both [the clock and the silverware].... In 1928 my Grandfather Quinn gave the clock to me... During the Civil War, Jefferson Davis, first and only President of the Confederacy, held his last meeting of his full cabinet in the Pheifer House in Charlotte, N.C....In those hectic days, the Pheifers loaded their furniture aboard horse drawn wagons and fled to the hills to prevent the furniture from falling into the hands of Federal troops. During the trip, the load shifted on the wagon which contained the clock and the clock was rubbed by a wheel. The evidence still shows on the left side, about eye height, a curving scratch. In the same area on the front left moulding of the door frame are some nicks." (Copy of original dated 3/26/2008, in object file.)

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