EDMUND APPLEY, Charing Cross c1685
Description:
A rare Charles II walnut and marquetry longcase clock of small proportions. The case is veneered with walnut with panels of floral marquetry to the base and trunk door. Standing on bun feet there is a brass lenticle to the trunk and the rising hood is flanked by barley twist columns and is surmounted by a carved cresting. The ten inch square dial has a matted centre with a skeletonised chapter ring and cherub and foliage spandrels. There is a subsidiary seconds ring and an aperture to view the day of the month. The dial plate is signed by the maker beneath the chapter ring. The eight day duration movement has tall plates separated by six latched pillars. Bolt and shutter maintaining power is included and the hours are sounded on a bell via an outside locking plate. Edmund Appley is recorded as being born in 1656 and apprenticed in 1670 to Jeffrey Bayley. He was free of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1678 and established his business in Charing Cross. He died in 1688 whilst on a business visit to Edinburgh. During his short clockmaking life of a mere ten years, Appley succeeded in making many fine clocks and we have been fortunate to handle or examine at least ten made by him. Each has been of the finest quality, equal to many of the great names of the Charles II period. No doubt had he lived longer, his reputation would rate with the finest. This particular example is one of his finest both in the quality of workmanship and in the outstanding colour and patination it has achieved.
Height including cresting 79in (200cm)
Clockmaker: EDMUND APPLEY, Charing Cross c1685
Circa: 1685
Stock Number: 3804
Height: 79 inches (200 cm.)