JACOB MASSEY, LONDON

A fine early Queen Anne period ebony veneered table clock by this excellent Huguenot maker.

The fully restored eight day movement, which strikes the hours on a single bell, has a knife edge verge escapement, bob pendulum and pull quarter repeatwork on a single bell. The dial has mask head foliate corner spandrels and a chapter ring with sword hilt half-hour markers. The date indicator is inset above 6 o’clock and there is a crescent shaped aperture with the maker’s signature and a false pendulum within the finely matted dial.

The elaborate backplate is engraved with exotic cherubs, birds, animals, flowers and foliate scrolls and there is a well-executed wheatear border. The maker’s name is set within a cartouche just below the centre.

The elegant case is veneered with ebony on an oak carcass. It has a shallow domed top with an elaborate gilt brass carrying handle with interlacing dolphins and cherubs surmounted by a crown and fleur-de-lys.

Date: circa 1695-1705

*Jacob Massey was the son of Nicholas Massey, a French Protestant immigrant watchmaker. He took over his father’s business along with his brother Nicholas upon his father’s death in 1698.