Year Going Boulle Longcase Sophisticated British technology meets Continental luxury in this magnificent, ornately decorated, clock by Daniel Quare.[1] There are two key features that define this grandiose clock. First, it is a year-going longcase, which means that it need be wound only once per year. Second, its case and columns are covered in première partie Boulle work (named as such because this decorative process was perfected by the French cabinet-maker André Charles Boulle). Quare was the most prolific maker of year-going clocks of his generation. Auctioneer Johnny Carter and antiquarian Richard Garnier both assert that this longcase is a fascinating example of his highly successful export trade.[2] A British–Continental fusion The carcass of the clock’s case was made from oak in an unusual way that fused British style with German construction. The style of the case’s flat caddy top is British, and it has both convex and concave mouldings. This is exemplary of the fact that this clock was made during the period when there was a shift in fashion, a transition from the convex mouldings characteristic of early clocks to concave mouldings. While the case’s caddy top and moulding are quintessentially British, the construction of the flat-top purpose-made case is German in style. Normally in British early clock cases, the transoms that are used to join the sides of the case together in the frame are grooved and tongued, and the backboard is nailed in using English clout-head wrought-iron nails. In this clock, however, the backboard is fixed with small wooden dowels and glued in place. Also, its cross-members are dovetailed and locked by a taper wedge. This means that when you knock a wedge in, it tightens the dovetails and pulls the boards together. After the dovetails were tightened, they were then glued in place. This is a typical construction style for Continental (mainland European clocks), and the use of the dowels is a specific characteristic of German manufacture. The Boulle work on the case and columns is exemplary, with scarlet red turtleshell inlay covering almost all the visible surfaces and perfectly fitted into the case’s concave junctions. Complementing the Boulle work are numerous well-placed brass mouldings as well as Berainesque première partie brass and pewter marquetry. There are also pierced-brass sound frets in the frieze , and the Doric columns are capped in brass. Brass inlays run along the concave throat mouldings. The Boulle inlay is decorated with floral and detailed patterns in metal. There is intricate pewter inlay work along the borders, with tiny slivers of pewter separated by black ebony lines. On the trunk, just above the lenticle, is a detail in metal of the figure of Chronos holding his scythe and overlooking two folded bodies, presumably two of the recent dead waiting for his collection. Just below the lenticle, also in metal, are figures of two satyrs turned away from one another. They appear to be balancing the lenticle on their shoulders. All these figures are surrounded by metal scrollwork, flowers and swirls. The lenticle is beautifully framed by a glazed brass wheat-ear moulding, and brass mouldings running the length of the door complement the Boulle work. On the bottom of the trunk is a portrait of a Roman general, intricately rendered in pewter, brass and turtleshell. The matching Boulle inlaid plinth, below the trunk, sits just above the floor on an extended skirting with two bun feet at the front but none at the rear. Specialised tools had to be made to carry out this sort of inlay work. Despite the French origin of this decorative process, the Boulle work on this case was most likely done in Germany, as it is similar to a Boulle-worked cabinet from a German or Austrian ‘princely workshop’ that is illustrated in Riccardi Cubitt’s book The Art of the Cabinet (1992, pl. 56).[3] Riccardi Cubitt also explains that ‘in Germany, Boulle work assumed an impressive richness and grandeur, being used... to express the pride of ruling princes.’ This then raises the question of whether the clock’s other decorative features, especially the figures depicted in metal, are German. Should the depictions of Chronos and the satyrs be categorised as German Baroque rather than French Continental style? Red turtleshell: exotic and costly Red turtleshell was used to embellish expensive clock cases and various other decorative art objects during the 16- and 1700s in Britain and Europe. Its shiny and transparent quality made it an especially coveted material for inlays in marquetry and Boulle work on clocks and furniture. These clocks were of high specification and costly. Quare’s use of costly and exotic red turtleshell veneer on the clock’s case was the epitome of luxury at the time. He used red turtleshell frequently. In addition to being an element of this longcase, red turtleshell is a feature of his Red Turtleshell Table Clock made around 1700 (exhibited on Clocktime); his Boulle longcase with subsidiary dials, made around 1670 (coming soon to Clocktime); and his repeating bracketed spring clock No. 47, made around 1705 (also coming soon to Clocktime). Quare’s contemporaneous colleague Thomas Tompion also used this material for some of his high-end productions, for example the famous Queen Mary Tompion with Boulle work, made around 1693 (coming soon to Clocktime). Red turtleshell in its raw form is found throughout South America, from Panama to Argentina. It was sourced primarily from the harvesting of scutes. Scutes are the specialised plates or scales on a turtle’s shell. The hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) has blonde-orange scutes. Anatomist Cornelius van Dyk (active 1665–1680) describes some of the characteristics of these red turtleshell scutes in his Osteolegia.[4] Scutes were harvested from the turtles by using a heating process that the turtles did not survive. It was an irrefutably cruel operation. Once harvested, the red turtleshell was imported in its raw form. The trade in red turtleshell (and all tortoiseshell-related trade, for that matter) was officially prohibited in 1977 in the conservation treaty known as CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). At that time, more than 45 countries were involved in importing and exporting raw tortoiseshell. Going and going… As mentioned above, Quare’s year-going Boulle longcase need be wound only once per year. Quare even built in an extra 10 days of going, ensuring that the clock would keep time for 375 days. But what went into designing the sophisticated clockwork that powered the clock to run for this long without winding? This longcase has a seven-wheel train, and its 22kg weights enable it to strike every hour, amounting to 156 strikes per day and 58,500 strikes per year.[5] (The heavy weights also ensure that the case is supported safely against the wall.) It is likely that Quare would have specified the internal dimensions of the case to fit the movement and to accommodate a height for the drop of the year-going weights, allowing the clock to run for exactly 375 days. This German-made longcase differs from Quare’s English year-going longcases in two key ways: (i) it was pleasingly smaller than Quare’s English year-going longcases (even though it measures a towering 8 feet and 6 inches [2591 mm] tall), and (ii) it did not run as long as his taller English year-going longcases. With only 10 days’ spare capacity, it is apparent that the local cabinet-maker reduced this Continental longcase to a minimum. By way of contrast, his taller English year going longcases allowed for a greater weight drop. Thus, they had more spare capacity for running past the year’s duration – certainly more than 10 days. Additionally, the case interior was papered in during the 1700s. Thus, the original movement appears to have been ordered for casing locally. It probably stayed in its case for 100 years or more. A perilous state Garnier and Hollis have discussed the ‘perilous state’ of the clock when it was acquired by the John C. Taylor Clock Collection in 2008 and chronicled its painstaking restoration.[6] Upon arrival, it was immediately apparent that a substantial proportion of the delicate inlay lifting on the case had been subject to numerous poor repairs over the years. Most shockingly of all, the original Boulle work had been replaced by plastic! After two years of careful deliberation, the decision was made to conserve and restore the rich inlay as close as possible to its original form. Dingwall & Banks Antique Furniture Conservation, the foremost Boulle conservation workshop (with experience of working on projects for the Victoria & Albert and Rijks Museums), was tasked with the restoration. An open-ended conservation programme followed. Crucially, there was no fixed budget, which allowed the conservators to stabilise every element of the delicate case veneers and restore the losses and poor repairs of the past without compromise. After five years of continuous conservation work, the restoration was completed in 2015. The results are astounding, and Quare’s year-going Boulle longcase has been dutifully restored to its former superb state. End Notes [1] Carter 2021, 128–133, Catalogue No. 26; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 358–359, Catalogue No. 109; Taylor 2018, 34, Catalogue No. 109. [2] Garnier and Carter 2015, 284–285; Carter 2021, 128–133; also see Garnier and Hollis 2018, 358. [3] Similarity between the Boulle work on Quare’s year-going Boulle longcase and the cabinet illustrated in Riccardi Cubitt (1992, pl. 56) has been discussed by Garnier and Carter (2015), Garnier and Hollis (2018, 358) and Carter (2021, 128). [4] van Dyk 1680, 156–157. [5] While Quare’s year-going clocks tend to have seven wheeled trains, his six-month clocks usually have six-wheeled ones. Note that the majority of Quare’s long duration movements are timepieces only. [6] Garnier and Hollis 2018, 358–359, No. 109. References Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part I (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Garnier, R. and Carter, J. 2015. The Golden Age of English Horology: Masterpieces from the Tom Scott Collection. Winchester: The Square Press. Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Riccardi Cubitt, M. 1992. The Art of the Cabinet: Including a chronological guide to styles. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. Taylor, J. C. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: Exhibition guide. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd.
