Queen Mary Tompion The Queen Mary Tompion table clock was made by clockmaker Thomas Tompion for Queen Mary II, who was the Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland and reigned jointly with her husband, King William III and II (also William of Orange).[1] It is probable that Queen Mary initially ordered the clock from France, and, at some point, sent the clock to Tompion’s London workshop for repair. Whatever the case, Tompion decided to refit the clock's French red turtleshell Boulle case with a new special eight-day movement. The result was what antiquarian and horologist Jonathan Carter described as ‘a unique clock within Tompion’s oeuvre…’, owing to its rare combination of complicated Tompion movement and modified imported French case.[2] The clock’s Boulle work case is covered with a red turtleshell veneer and has pewter inlays and a sunburst centre (just above the XII) with floral garlands on the door. It was designed by or based on the designs of Daniel Marot, a Huguenot architect, furniture designer and engraver known for his Late Baroque style of design. Marot was Louis XIV’s casemaker, and, around the time this clock was made, he was in London having been appointed as one of King William’s architects and Master of Works in 1694. Tompion modified the case by cutting a recess into the back of the front door, effectively shoehorning the movement into it. This in turn allowed space for the hidden pendulum regulation dial, located just behind the engraving of the sunburst centre. He also cut slots on each side of the back door to allow the pendulum to swing. Tompion also made a new gilt back door for the case and decorated it with a fine scroll engraving. The large front door frame also features a superlative engraving around the dial and over the area that covers the dial's upper regulation dial. Additionally, Tompion discreetly incised his semi-hidden signature Tho Tompion Londini Fecit in the lower centre of the dial plate. The way that Tompion altered the case to accommodate his movement indicates that he received the case in an already complete form and had to work around its specifications. Perhaps Tompion was instructed to use the case as part of the commission or perhaps he took great liberties with what was supposed to be a repair job. Owing to the strong likelihood that Marot was commissioned explicitly for the case design, there is also the possibility that he did not fully account for the perimeters of the English movement in his design, thus forcing Tompion to make do and alter the case to fit his movement. Whatever the circumstances were, with his upgrade, Tompion ensured that the Queen’s clock was not only beautiful but also delivered precision timekeeping thanks to its verge escapement with spring suspended pendulum, worm-driven pendulum regulation system and hour striking and repeat mechanism. The movement for this clock was made during a busy time for Tompion. During the 1690s, his business greatly expanded, and he enjoyed a flurry of royal commissions. Queen Mary II: Tompion’s royal customer Evidence confirms that Queen Mary was a customer of Tompion’s, because he billed her for a clock. However, it is not clear whether she was a royal patron per se. The historical record indicates that it was actually her husband and co-monarch, King William III and II, who was Tompion's active patron, as he commissioned a good number of Tompion clocks. Although there is nothing in the historical record to confirm that Mary commissioned the Queen Mary Tompion from Tompion, nor any documentation naming her explicitly as the owner of the clock, there is evidence for a transaction between Queen Mary and Tompion that almost certainly refers to the clock.[4] The following is from an itemised account for a bill that Tompion sent to the Queen. It includes the line item of £40.00.0d for work done on 16 August 1693 on a ‘Spring Clock in a Tortoise Shell Case’. 1693 Delivered for Her Maj[est]ie Service To The Watchmaker Rt Honble the Countess of Darby by Thomas Tompion Thos Tompion May ye 8th A Gold Watch at twentythree p 13s – 23:13:0 Augt 16 A Spring Clock in a Tortoise Shell Case – 40:00:0 March ye 28 A large Month Clock a fine walnut tree 1694 Case wth ye Diall plate Capitall & bases Gilt – 25:0:0 Septembr 26 for Cleaning & Mending ye Queens quarter repeating spring Clock – 1:5:0 Octobr ye 15th for Cleaneing & Mending the Queens repeating watch & a new glass & Lineing the Case – 0:15:0 _____ [total owed] 90:13:0 Desembr ye the p[ar]ticullers Above Mentioned Amounting to ye Sume of 18th Ninty pounds Thirteen Shillings hath been received for Her Majtie us p me [signed] EDerby. There also appears to be references to the Queen Mary Tompion in the diaries of the polymath Robert Hooke. Tompion and Hooke met in 1674. Despite Hooke’s famously prickly nature, the two men seemed to get on well and appear to have enjoyed a long, fruitful professional relationship. There are numerous diary entries in which Hooke records dinners together, as well as casual meetings in the form of day-long visits during which Tompion showed his clockwork to Hooke. One of these entries, in which Hooke describes work that Tompion showed him, is dated to Tuesday 16 May 1693, exactly three months before the supply of this clock to the Queen. In it, Hooke notes ‘Cald at Tompions: draught of Q.Marys clock’. This appears to refer to the Queen Mary Tompion. One month later, on 16 June, Hooke notes that he ‘Cald at Tompion, saw K and Q clocks’. The 'K' and the 'Q' refer to the King’s and Queen’s clocks. Carter argues that there is little doubt that the ‘K’ clock to which Hooke refers is the eight-day travel alarm clock, made around 1695, at the British Museum (Museum Number: 1986,0306.1) and dated 1693 on the backplate. Carter goes on to explain that Hooke’s ‘Q’ clock reference probably refers to his having seen the movement of the Queen Mary Tompion – a scenario that is supported by the fact that Queen Mary is known to have received the red turtleshell cased clock exactly two months after Hooke’s second note. Presumably, the Queen Mary Tompion’s movement was yet another work in progress that Tompion discussed with Hooke.[5] When Queen Mary died of smallpox in 1694, leaving her grief-stricken husband, William III, to rule on his own until his death in 1702, her possessions from Kensington House (the residence of the King and Queen from 1689) were later catalogued by Symon de Brienne, a ‘valet de chambre’ to William, in 1699/1700. Although de Brienne lists several clocks among the Queen’s (and King’s) belongings, it is not possible to confidently tie the description of any one clock to the Queen Mary Tompion. However, de Brienne does list a ‘fine clock upon a carved pedestall’ in the ‘Old Bedchamber’ of the Queen, but this is the extent to which it is described. The carved pedestal could refer to the original plinth upon which the base plate of the Queen Mary Tompion originally sat. The current turtleshell, pewter strung, shaped plinth, upon which the baseplate now sits, is a later addition. Otherwise, the red turtleshell case of the Queen Mary Tompion is not mentioned anywhere in de Brienne’s inventory. However, the cases and metalwork of several other clocks are described. Surely the clock’s red turtleshell case and Boulle work veneer would have warranted mention, as did the black ‘Jappan’ frames and silver plates of other clocks listed. Thus, it is unlikely whether the Queen Mary Tompion was part of the Kensington House inventory. It is possible that the Queen kept the clock in one of her other residences. Several of King William’s Tompion clock commissions survive. There is the sub-miniature spring table clock No. 222, known as the Royal Tompion and formerly part of the Clive Collection, made around 1693. This is the smallest known ebony-cased clock by Tompion in the world. It is possible that this clock was made for Mary, but there is no documentation to confirm this or any that indicates it was commissioned jointly by her and her husband. The Royal Tompion is now in private collection. The Selby Lowndes table clock by Tompion, which is exhibited on Clocktime, was made around the same as the Queen Mary Tompion, circa 1693. It too was probably commissioned by William, and its magnificent architectural case was also probably designed by Marot.[3] The elaborately decorated and complicated Mostyn Tompion clock at the British Museum (Museum Number: 1982,0702.1) was also commissioned by William. It was made in 1689. This is a year-going, quarter-repeating, spring-driven calendar clock. Its case was also probably designed by Marot. Tompion and Marot During the 1690s, some of Tompion’s finest work was completed in collaboration with Daniel Marot, a French-born Dutch architect, decorative designer and engraver whose opulent and elaborate designs contributed to European styles of decoration in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Tompion could have been introduced to Marot by way of his royal patron, King William, but it is also possible that he became friendly with Marot by way of his own connections to the greatest makers and scientific thinkers of his day. Marot and his family were Huguenots (French Protestants), who left France in 1685 and emigrated to Holland, where the young Marot entered the service of the future King William, who was then the Dutch Stadtholder William, Prince of Orange. In this role, Marot brought the fully developed court style of Louis XIV to Holland and was involved in the design of the interiors of the Het Loo palace in Apeldoorn. When William and his wife Mary moved to England in 1689 to rule as King and Queen Regnant, Marot was summoned to London to work for the new monarchs, and in 1694, William appointed Marot to be one of his royal architects and his Master of Works. During his time in London, Marot’s influence was far reaching, transcending clock case design. More than anyone, he was responsible for introducing to England the Louis XIV court style, and, over time, this prevailed in styles of interior design, including fashions in furniture. This decorative influence was popularly known as William and Mary style, and this descriptor remains in use to this day. Marot’s French-inspired baroque style also influenced the construction of clock cases, and he appears to have collaborated with Tompion to some extent, because numerous Tompion clocks feature Marot cases. These were all made during the 1690s, while Marot was working in London for King William. These include the sub-miniature spring table clock No. 222, the Selby Lowndes table clock and the Mostyn table clock – all mentioned above – as well as the eight-day travel alarm clock, made around 1695, at the British Museum (Museum Number: 1986,0306.1) and the Queen Mary Tompion. The Queen Mary Tompion’s brass-inlaid red turtleshell Boulle case, bears all the hallmarks of a Marot design and was most likely crafted by a Huguenot refugee, possibly even Marot himself. Additionally, some of Marot’s later engravings also suggest a link to Tompion, as they feature longcase clocks with remarkable similarities to those produced by Tompion during the 1690s. For an example of a Tompion longcase produced during this decade, see the Millbourn Tompion, which was made around 1699 and is exhibited on Clocktime. Tompion and Marot could easily have come into one another’s proximity while Marot was working in London, especially as they both enjoyed the patronage of King William III. Still, the nature and extent of their professional relationship is not known. At the very least, Tompion and Marot probably knew one another, and there must have been some kind of exchange of ideas between the two. Whatever the nature of their relationship or acquaintance, the presumed collaboration between the two, appears to have been facilitated by Marot’s proximity to Tompion during the 1690s, when Marot was based in London and working for King William. This observation is supported by the fact that Marot returned to Holland in 1702 following the death of King William, and no Tompion-Marot clocks are known to have been made after this time. An indisputably French case The Queen Mary Tompion’s case is indisputably French in style and design. Its most striking feature is its red turtleshell veneer inlaid with brass pewter. This was known as ‘Boulle work’, named after the Paris-based master craftsman André-Charles Boulle (b. 1642, d. 1732), who had perfected this rich marquetry process. At the time, Boulle was the most famous French cabinetmaker and preeminent artist in the field of marquetry. Even in England, he was renowned for his Boulle work, which was a hallmark of William and Mary style.[6] Although the Queen Mary Tompion’s case was probably designed by Marot while he was working in London, it was probably ordered from Boulle himself. The case features foliate panels in the Marot style. The front door is inlaid with a pewter sunburst that has been interpreted as either the mask of Apollo (the Greek sun god) or the face of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France. There are also pewter inlays around the dial. The base of the case is scrolled and sits on an original gilt base plate, which is mounted on the later turtleshell, pewter strung, shaped plinth, mentioned above. When Tompion modified the case to fit his new movement, he added a solid brass rear door that is covered with elaborate geometric foliate engraving. In the centre of this decoration is an engraved townscape within a central wheat-ear oval. The engraving is attributed to Tompion’s engraver identified as ‘Graver 155’. Tompion made these modifications to accommodate the swing of the pendulum and to facilitate access to the pendulum adjustment dial, just above the XII. While the Queen Mary Tompion can be described as an unusual Tompion production, Tompion certainly was well known on the Continent and cultivated ties to France, both in terms of clientele and patrons. For instance, surviving correspondence, dated to 1680, between the Parisian biblical scholar Nicolas Toinard (1628–1706), and the English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) describes Tompion as the most recommended clockmaker in England – a high compliment as, by then, London was recognised as producing the finest horological work in the world. Additionally, the Queen Mary Tompion was not the first Tompion clock to feature this kind of elaborate French Boulle case. The first example is the timepiece movement No. 70. Tompion started working on this timepiece around 1685, and it was finally finished around 1703–1705, with a non-standard shallow-arched dial. The second example is a standard striking and repeating movement No. 401, which was finished around 1704. It has a cartouche-shaped dial to fit its French case, and it remains with the aristocratic French family for which it may have been originally made. Both examples share the same sequence of manufacture as the Queen Mary Tompion; the dials were produced especially to fit existing French cases, rather than the other way around. However, in contrast to Queen Mary’s bespoke movement, the movements of these other examples are standard Tompion productions that have been adapted. End Notes [1] Britten 1986, 283–285; Bruton 1980, 97; Carter 2021, 142–149, Catalogue No. 31; Dawson et al. 1994 [1982], 520, 531, 534–535, pls. 32, 784–790; Ende et al. 2004, 226–229; Evans et al. 2013, 396–399 and 426–429; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 350–351, Catalogue No. 107; Hurcomb 1928, 33; Taylor et al. 2020, 34, Exhibition No. 4:6. [2] Carter 2021, 144. [3] Garnier and Hollis 2018, 354, Catalogue No. 108; Symonds 1940 and 1951; Taylor 2018, 33, Exhibit No. 108. [4] Carter 2021, 149. [5] Carter 2021, 149. Although Carter favours the attribution of the ‘Q’ clock to the Queen Mary Tompion, he posits that an alternative candidate for the ‘Q’ clock might be the sub-miniature, ebony-cased spring clock No. 222, because ‘it is a close visual (if not mechanical) counterpart to the William III dual-control clock dated 1693. The clock’s serial number, 222, is (also) comfortably close to the parameters postulated for the (Queen Mary Tompion) clock.’ [6] Carter 2021, 146. 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. Bruton, E. 1980. The Wetherfield Collection of Clocks: a guide to dating English clocks. London: NAG. Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part II (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co.). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Dawson, P. G., C. B. Drover and D. W. Parkes. 1994 [1982]. Early English Clocks: A discussion of domestic clocks up to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors’ Club. Ende, H. van der, J. C. Taylor and F. Van Kersen.2004. Huygens’ Legacy: The golden age of the pendulum clock (Exhibition Catalogue). Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Evans, J., J. Carter and B. Wright. 2013. Thomas Tompion – 300 Years: A celebration of the life and work of Thomas Tompion. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Walter Lane Publishing. Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Hurcomb, W. E. 1928. The Wetherfield Collection of 222 Clocks. London: W. E. Hurcomb. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Th. H. 1960-62. ‘Documents on the furnishing of Kensington House’. The Walpole Society, Volume 38. Taylor, J. C. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: Exhibition guide. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Taylor, J. C. and K. Leith (with contributions from T. Phillipson and K. Neate). 2020. The Luxury of Time: Clocks from 1500–1800. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd.
