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Tall Case Clock

Date1800-1815

Maker John Bailey (clockmaker) (1751 - 1823)

Attributed to Theodore Cushing (cabinetaker)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Hanover and Hingham

MediumMahogany, light and dark wood inlay, oak (modern), white pine, glass, brass, iron, and steel

DimensionsCase: Overall: 88 1/2 x 19 1/8 x 9 7/8in. Pendulum: OL: 43 1/2"; diam: 3.3"; depth 0.8" Weight 1: OH: 9"; diam 2 7/8" weight 2: OH: 8 3/8"; diam 2.5"

Credit LineBequest of Mary B. and William Lehman Guyton

Object number2011-80,A-D

DescriptionA=case; B=movement; C=pendulum; D=weights
Appearance: HOOD: molded arched top surmounted by three plinths with brass ball and spire finials (replaced), plinths inlaid with lightwood stringing and a single pendant bellflower; pierced fretwork between plinths; glazed arched hood door inlaid on sides with lightwood bellflowers; stop-fluted columns with light wood stop flutes and brass capitals and bases at front corners of hood; rectangular glazed side lights on hood with X form divider. DIAL: White painted single piece arched dial measuring 11 3/4” W x 16 7/8” H. Chapter ring with Roman hours and Arabic minutes. Arabic seconds dial above center and Arabic calendar in aperture below center. Painted moon phase dial in arch. Gilded, raised scrolls in four corners of dial. Dial signed "John Bailey/ HANOVER" below date aperture.
TRUNK: wide cove molding below hood; stop fluted quarter columns on trunk with light wood stop-fluting, brass capitals and bases; rectangular trunk door with molded edges inlaid in center with oval pattera of Prince of Wales feathers and around perimeter with geometric banding; coved waist molding above base inlaid with a diamond in a square in light and dark wood banding and geometric banding; simple base molding integral with lower scalloped skirt and French feet.

Movement description:
Eight-day brass time, strike, and calendar skeletonized weight-driven movement measuring 6 9/16” H x 4 3/16” W. Plate thickness is 0.150” and clearance between front and back plates is 2 5/16”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds beat pendulum. A rack-and-snail strike sounds the hours on a 4.65” diameter cast bell.

Four brass pillars are riveted into the back plate and pinned at the front plate. The pillars have chamfered tips and protrude over 0.4” in front of the front plate. The movement is fastened to the seat board by steel seat board screws threaded into the bottom pillars. The time and strike barrels are grooved for the weight cords. Both main wheels have copper slip on washers to fasten the barrels to the wheels. Both copper washers have a peened in decorative pattern. All time and strike train wheels have four-arm crossings. The conventional motion work is uncrossed. The round steel crutch-rod has a closed-end fork. The pendulum bridge base is a butterfly shape. It is fastened to the back plate with two screws. The bell stand is screwed to the outside of the back plate at the side of the pendulum bridge.

There are standard cast-brass pulleys with riveted stirrups. The overall length of the pendulum is 43.5”. The pendulum rod is steel. The bob is cast iron with a brass face. It is 3.3” diameter and 0.8” thick at its center. The weights are cylindrical cast iron with cast in metal loops. One is 2 7/8” diameter and 9” long. The other is 2 1/2” diameter and 8 3/8” long. They weigh 14 pounds and 10 pounds respectively.

Construction: On the hood, the three-board arched top is nailed to the top of an arched rear upper rail and to a one piece dial frame that has an interior perimeter rabbet to receive the clock face. An arched spacer block is glued and nailed to the top face of the dial frame. The rear upper rail is dovetailed to upper side rails that are in turn glued and probably nailed to the front spacer block. The thin (1/4") sides are nailed to the upper side rails, rear flanker panels and to the lower side rails with blocks nailed through the lower edges of the sides and into the rails. Side windows with integral pierced carving are fitted with glass set in rabbets with putty. The flanker panels are dove-tailed into the upper and lower side rails. The hood's lower side rails are tenoned and pinned into the front rail that is in turn nailed from the bottom to the clock frame.

The one piece hand carved and scraped cove top molding is nailed to the front spacer block and upper side rails and miter joined and pinned to matching upper side molding that, in turn, is nailed to the upper side rails. The center finial plinth is set in a notch in the top, probably tenoned into the spacer block and is secured to the top with a triangular glue block. The side finial plinths are tenoned, nailed and glued into the upper side rails and joined to the arched top with conforming glue blocks. Each plinth has a center hole in the top to accept the finials. The fretwork (not original) is glued to the center plinth (the original fretwork was tenoned to the plinth) and set in a dado formed by the space between the front edge of the top and the back edge of the top molding. The hood base molding is glued and nailed to the bottom front and side rails.

Hood columns are fluted on the facing side, stop fluted with maple on the bottom 3½"and are secured with brass capitals and bases screwed to the top and bottom rails. The pine hood door is tenon joined with a thick mahogany veneer frame glued to the face that overlaps the inner edge to form a rabbet into which the glass and held in with putty.

On the trunk, the upper and lower front rails are tenoned into the trunk stiles which extend flush with the top of the top waist molding and 4" into the base. The sides and stiles are of horizontally tapered mahogany glued to pine with a matching taper to provide a wider edge of mahogany where the sides and the stiles meet the edges of the fluted columns. A series of rectangular glue blocks join the sides and the stiles. These elements do not meet, leaving a space covered by the chamfered outer edge of the glue blocks. The fluted columns are glued and nailed into the space created by the sides and stiles and are fitted with 7 ½" of lightwood stop fluting. At the top and bottom of the quarter columns are vertical rectangular blocks joined to the sides and stiles. The columns are fitted with brass capitals screwed to the blocks. These "blocks" are made up of a 1"x1" block set in a large rabbet in a 1"x1 ½" block, and veneered where visible. Upper and lower cove moldings are pinned to the blocks, and also to the trunk sides and rails. The back, which extends from the base bottom to the hood top, is nailed into rabbets in the sides.

At the top of the trunk, chamfered hood kickers are screwed to the outer surface of the projecting trunk sides with additional blocks nailed to the inside and top edge to provide support for the seat board. The mahogany veneered trunk door was originally veneered to pine, however, at a later date the pine was shaved to a thin layer to which an oak panel was glued. The door has an inlayed central medallion, and on the edge a three piece string inlay inside of a ½" cross- band capped with a nailed molding that overlaps the door edges.

Notches have been carved in the backs of the upper and lower front rails to provide guides for weights, and in both sides to allow for the swing of the pendulum.

On the base, the front panel and sides are joined with nailed interlocking rabbets supplemented with glue blocks. The back is butt joined and toe-nailed from the back to the sides. Modern shims have been added on each side as described in the condition report. The base never had a bottom board. Blocks that fill the gap between the extended trunk sides and the base sides are supported on the ledge formed by the widening of the back at the base and nailed to the extended trunk sides.

The feet, front and side skirts are integral with the sides and front panel. Shaped mahogany 3/8"to ¾" thick has been added and extend the feet and skirts beyond the base sides and front panel. On the back 1/3 to ½ of both sides, the mahogany is 3/16" thinner and has therefore been backed by a shim of that width. A base molding is nailed to the top of the foot assembly, and a quarter round molding is nailed to the top edge of the front and side base panels and butt joins the lower front cove molding.

Woods: Primary: Mahogany, light and dark wood inlay; Secondary: oak (modern), white pine
Label TextJohn Bailey of Hanover was an influential clockmaker in southeastern Massachusetts. Possibly self-taught, he trained numerous apprentices all of whom went on to work in the surrounding region. His tall case clocks were housed in cases from a variety of cabinetmakers, including Theodore Cushing of nearby Hingham.

Theodore Cushing produced cases following the popular Boston/Roxbury model perpetuated by the Willard family of clockmakers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Like many small-town artisans, he slightly altered the standard Willard formula. He incorporated a lighter wood into the columns in place of the more typical brass or mahogany and he used ornate and complex inlaid ornament, possibly purchased pre-made from a specialist in Boston.

John Bailey’s brother Calvin, also a clockmaker, recorded buying $20 clock cases from Theodore Cushing between 1802 and 1806. In turn, Cushing purchased clock movements for $40 from Calvin. This back and forth of cases and movements suggests that patrons placed their order for a tall case clock either with a local clockmaker or cabinetmaker and that artisan would procure whichever part was not their product from another craftsman.

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