Norfolk Fromanteel The Norfolk Fromanteel was made by master clockmaker Ahasuerus Fromanteel and represents a hugely significant chapter in early horological development.[1] It is the earliest clock to be designed as a longcase, and its case is the first example of an architectural format case.[2] Additionally, its movement is an early ‘Fromanteel type’. This movement design method deviated from and surpassed the existing Dutch technology that had been used to manufacture the first domestic pendulum clocks. The clock is popularly known as the Norfolk Fromanteel because it was commissioned by the Earl of Arundel and 6th Duke of Norfolk, Henry Howard.[3] A first-class case In 1658, Fromanteel pioneered the design of the domestic pendulum clock in London. At the time, he was the only clockmaker in London with direct knowledge of the design for the domestic pendulum clock invented by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens. It is most likely that he acquired this knowledge directly through his son John Fromanteel. John had worked for the Dutch clockmaker Salomon Coster under contract in The Hague from 1657 to 1658, and, while there, he had been instrumental in helping Coster manufacture the first of Huygen’s new designs. John then brought this knowledge home to his father’s workshop. We know that Ahasuerus Fromanteel mastered this new technology by 1658, when he famously advertised his new domestic pendulum clocks in the Commonwealth Mercury newspaper. This knowledge was arguably exclusive to the Fromanteel workshop, enabling the clockmaker to gain a serious (albeit brief) advantage over his competitors. Initially, these new Fromanteel clocks were table clocks with box-like cases.[4] Almost immediately, the design of the case evolved. These box-like cases were followed by hooded wall clocks and then, within a couple of years, the longcase form was introduced. The Norfolk Fromanteel is one of the first of these early longcases and is the earliest surviving example of this form in a complete clock with its original movement and case.[5] Its case is also the earliest known example of an architectural format case, meaning that its lines and features are informed by classical Greek architecture. In fact, these cases resemble miniature Greek temples. The lifted architectural hood of the Norfolk Fromanteel’s case has four Corinthian columns, the front two of which handsomely frame the dialface. The top of the hood incorporates a pediment, which showcases an engraved gilt badge mounted in the tympanum (discussed below). Also, for this clock, Fromanteel used a blind-fretted support to integrate the design of the hood into the ebonised trunk, which had a convex throat moulding so the hood and the trunk appear as one continuous part of a whole rather than two separate pieces that have been fitted together.[6] There seems to be consensus amongst horologist Dr John C Taylor and antiquarians Richard Garnier, Leo Hollis and Johnny Carter that Fromanteel’s case design developed as it did because he employed the highly regarded English neo-classical architect, John Webb, as his case designer.[7] An early Fromanteel-type movement During the 1660s, horological technology underwent significant technological development. Fromanteel was a major player in this, and the movement in the Norfolk Fromanteel longcase exemplifies the innovation of the time. Garnier and Hollis explain that the movement is of ‘early Fromanteel type’, as the plates are secured by 10 knopped pillars, which are riveted to into the backplate and latched to the frontplate.[8] The movement’s front- and backplates are also divided to allow the taking down or setting up of each train separately. There are two trains: one for going and one for striking. Each train has five wheels. The hour striking is enabled via a small countwheel mounted on the outside of the backplate. Also, Fromanteel introduced a roller case on the backplate to reduce friction on the pendulum. This roller case is a forerunner of the roller bearings used in clocks today. Fromanteel’s design had surpassed the Dutch technology of the time. The technological and aesthetic development of Fromanteel’s early pendulum clocks is in marked contrast to the situation in Holland, where Huygen’s invention of the domestic pendulum clock was first produced. Garnier and Hollis assert that, in Holland, the design of spring-driven clocks had ‘ossified’ during those first years of production and was basically like the model initially produced by John Fromanteel (Ahasuerus’ son) when he was working in Coster’s workshop in 1657 and 1658.[9] By the early 1660s, other London makers in addition to Fromanteel were producing pendulum clocks. In turn, each maker experimented with and refined their designs as they strove to deliver more accurate clocks for less cost up front. This drive to innovate and increase profit produced two competing schools of pendulum clock design: the Fromanteel school and the East School. The two schools operated on fundamentally different principles in movement design. The Fromanteel school used a method in which the pillars are riveted to the backplate and latched to the frontplate, as seen in the Norfolk Fromanteel. By way of contrast, the East school used a method in which the pillars are pinned onto the backplate and rivetted onto the frontplate.[10] By 1665, the East school had caught up technically with the Fromanteel school, with its creator, clockmaker Edward East, producing clocks of near-equal refinement to Fromanteel’s.[11] Carter observes that when Fromanteel made the Norfolk Fromanteel, he was ‘undoubtedly leading the market … and held the commercial upper hand.’[12] Yet, unlike his main competitor East, he had neither royal patronage nor powerful allies in the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. In fact, Fromanteel constantly found himself in the cross hairs of the Company for non-compliance with regulations, whereas East was King Charles II’s Royal Clockmaker and a high-ranking member of two powerful guilds, the Clockmakers’ Company and the Goldsmiths’ Company.[13] Thus, it might have been comparatively difficult for Fromanteel to command the upfront financing that someone like East (who was also a banker in his own right) could secure. Carter posits that Fromanteel might have been especially cost-conscious when refining his movement design. The legacy of the horse and oat sprig badge Mounted in the centre of the tympanum on the pediment of the Norfolk Fromanteel’s case hood is a gilt badge with an engraved image of a springing horse with an oak sprig in its mouth.[14] This symbol is hugely significant. It is from the rebus (heraldic badge) of the Fitzalan Earl of Arundel, Henry Howard, who was also the 6th Duke of Norfolk. The gilt bade confirms the identification of Howard as the original owner of this clock. When the clock was manufactured in the early 1660s, Howard was the acting head of the family, who were heirs to the Fitzalan dynasty. As a second son, Howard was not the official heir. In fact, he became acting head through tragedy. It was his elder brother, Thomas Howard, who had inherited the 23rd Earlship of Arundel when their father died in 1652. Soon after, Thomas was declared insane and confined to an asylum in Padua, North Italy. Also, the family had lost (forfeited) their dukedom of Norfolk in 1572, when Henry and Thomas’ great-great-grandfather was detained and executed for rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I. In 1660, the House of Lords petitioned King Charles II to restore the Duchy of Norfolk to the Howards, and the King did so. Thus, upon Thomas’ death in 1677, Henry Howard succeeded as 24th Earl of Arundel and 6th Duke of Norfolk. This is why the clock that Howard commissioned from Fromanteel became popularly known as the Norfolk Fromanteel. Howard was an important scientific patron and became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1666. This was good timing, as his home, Arundel House, on the Strand in London, was one of the few buildings to escape the destruction of the Great Fire of London that same year. Safely in Howard’s house, this clock was preserved. What is more, Howard made his home available to the Royal Society for meetings (while the Society’s headquarters was being rebuilt). This means that the Norfolk Fromanteel presided over many meetings attended by the leading lights of Britain’s scientific community. Howard also presented the Arundel marbles (Classical Greek sculpture) to the University of Oxford and the Arundelian Library to the Royal Society. Dr Kristin Leith, Senior Curator of Clocktime January 2024 End Notes [1] Britten 1986, pl. 60; Cescinskey and Webster 1913, figs 33, 50 and 51; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 172–175, Catalogue No. 29. [2] Carter 2022, 50; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 175; Taylor 2018, 14 Catalogue No. 29. [3] Carter 2022, 96. [4] Garnier 2018, 81–114. [5] Garnier and Hollis 2018, 175. [6] Carter 2022, 40. [7] See especially Garnier 2018 and Garnier and Hollis 2018, 175. [8] Garnier and Hollis 2018, 172. [9] Garnier and Hollis 2018, 175. [10] Taylor 2018, 15. [11] Carter 2021, 36; 2022, 40. [12] Carter 2022, 40. [13] Although royal appointments, such as Royal Clockmaker, were not lucrative appointments and royal patrons had a habit of paying in arrears, these posts did much to confirm and increase the status and credibility of makers. [14] Garnier and Hollis 2018, 175; Taylor 2018, 14, Catalogue No. 29. References Britten, F. J. 1986. Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers: A history of styles in clocks and watches and their mechanisms (9th edition). London: Bloomsbury Books. Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part I (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Carter, J. 2022. The John C Taylor Collection: Part III (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Cescinsky, H. and M. R. Webster. 1913. English Domestic Clocks. London: Waverley Book Company. Garnier, R. 2018. ‘The Fromanteel Architectural Early-Pendulum Clock Case (c1660-c1673) in Garnier, R. and L. Hollis (editors) Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Taylor, J. C. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: Exhibition guide. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Further Reading Ullyett, Kenneth. 2011. British Clocks and Clockmakers. London: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
