Monumental Architectural Night Clock This is a very rare table night clock created by John Fromanteel and enclosed in an architectural ebony-veneered case.[1] Although popular on the Continent (especially in Italy, where they were first commissioned), English night clocks are extremely rare.[2] Only 12 English spring night clocks are known to survive, and this clock is the only known surviving night clock signed by John or his father, Ahasuerus Fromanteel It is an eight day-duration clock featuring on its dial plate a painted detail of a survey party using early instruments including a plane table, a backstaff, an armillary sphere and an equinoctial ring. Instead of hands, the clock face has cut-out numbers to indicate the time by rotating into position. Originally, these were illuminated by a candle or an oil lamp placed inside the clock’s wooden case, making the numerals visible in the dark. This design was an extreme fire hazard and was eventually replaced by the quarter repeating clock in the 1670s.[3] It is no wonder that all known examples from London date to after the Great Fire of 1666 – perhaps many were destroyed in the fire. This clock was altered in Victorian times by replacing the rotating numbers on the dials shown in the aperture with signs of the zodiac to resemble a clock referred to in John Evelyn’s diary, under the date 1 November 1660, as having been included in King Charles II’s ‘closet of rarities’. Evelyn writes: I went with some of my relations to Court to show them his Magties cabinet and closet of rarities … Here I saw … amongst the clocks one that showed the rising and setting of the sun in Ye Zodig, the sunn represented by a face and raies of gold upon an azure skie, observing Ye diurnal and annual motion rising and setting behind, and landscape of hills, the work of our famous Fromantel. The mechanism of this night clock uses the twin-disc system favoured by the Fromanteel school.[4] On inspection, Messrs. A. and H. Rowley found the movement in the clock had been turned around, probably to allow winding from the front, and that originally the hour had been indicated by two revolving discs – one with the six odd hours marked on it, and one with the six even hours, which appeared alternately. The Rowleys restored the perforated hour numerals and divisions so that the time could be indicated as originally intended: by means of light from a candle or lamp within the case. The dials are pictured in the first edition of Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers after they had been altered to look like the clock referred to in Evelyn’s diary, and then how they looked after they had been returned to their original form with the numerals exposed from under the zodiac signs (Clutton 1899, 196 fig. 201). The third edition of Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers shows a different view, showing the dials returned to their original form with the numerals exposed from under the zodiac signs.[5] End Notes [1] Carter 2022, 76–81, Exhibit No. 11; Clutton 1922, 228, 315 fig. 464, 327. [2] Carter 2021, 42. [3] Carter 2022, 80–81. [4] Carter 2022, 81. [5] Clutton 1911, 302 fig. 440, 227 and 311. References Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part II (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Clutton, C., G. H. Baillie and C. A. Ilbert. 1899. Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers: A history of styles in clocks and watches and their mechanisms (1st edition). London: E. & F. N. Spon. Clutton, C., G. H. Baillie and C. A. Ilbert. 1911. Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers: A history of styles in clocks and watches and their mechanisms (3rd edition). London: E. & F. N. Spon. Clutton, C., G. H. Baillie and C. A. Ilbert. 1922. Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers: A history of styles in clocks and watches and their mechanisms (5th edition). London: E. & F. N. Spon.