Donnington Priory Salerooms

52
A Victorian engraved gilt-brass
carriage timepiece
Dent, London, mid 19th century
The four-pillar single fusee movement
with Harrison’s maintaining power, lever
escapement between the plates, and
vertical monometallic balance with foliate
engraved backcock and regulation
pointer mounted on the backplate
inscribed Dent, London, 1739, PATENT
LEVER, the rectangular foliate-scroll
engraved single-sheet silvered dial with
Roman numeral chapter ring and gilt
hands, the case with shaped hinged
handle, concave caddy and spire finials
above recessed frieze, bevel glazed doors
to front and rear and deep foliate scroll
work to sides divided by turned pilasters
to angles, on stepped moulded base with
turned feet, 11.5cm high excluding
handle.
According to Mercer (Mercer, Vaudrey
EDWARD JOHN DENT AND HIS
SUCCESSORS page 178) carriage
clocks signed Dent, London can be
included within the series signed
E.J. Dent.... hence the current lot would
have probably been made shortly prior to
Edward John Dent’s death in 1853.
Edward John Dent was a talented
horologist who at the age of 17
transferred his apprenticeship from the
trade of tallow chandler to watchmaking
under the charge of Edward Gaudin in
1807. By 1814 he was becoming well
known as a watch and clockmaker
receiving commissions from the Admiralty
for a ‘Standard Astronomical Clock’ and
pocket chronometers for the Colonial
Office Africa Expedition. In 1830 Dent
went into partnership with the renowned
watch and chronometer maker John
Roger Arnold which continued until 1840
when he left and set up business alone
as E.J. Dent at 82 Strand, London,
primarily making marine chronometers,
watches and precision clocks. In 1852
Edward Dent successfully tendered to
make the Great Clock to be housed in St.
Stephens Tower at the New Palace of
Westminster. The clock was completed in
1859, apparently at a financial loss to the
firm, however it ensured that the Dent
name became a household name
synonymous with fine clockmaking. After
his death in 1853 the firm was continued
by his successors and was still trading
well into the latter half of the 20th century.
£1,500-2,000
01635 553553
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