Donnington Priory Salerooms

104
A fine Queen Anne ebonised eight-day longcase clock
John Knibb, Oxford, early 18th century
The fully-latched five finned-pillar inside countwheel bell-striking movement
with separate shaped-cock for the pallet arbor and backplate cut for the
pallets, long crutch and 11.75 inch square gilt brass dial with delicate border
engraved calendar aperture, silvered subsidiary seconds ring and blued-steel
hands to the finely matted centre within an applied silvered Roman numeral
chapter ring with stylised fleur-de-lys half hour markers, Arabic five minutes
and signed John Knibb, Oxon to lower edge, the angles applied with gilt twin
cherub and crown pattern spandrels, the case with Knibb type button-capped
giltwood centre finial flanked by conforming brass examples to the domed
caddy upstand with blind fret infill beneath, with moulded cornice with
conforming fret to frieze and integral columns with gilt brass caps and bases
to hood door, the trunk with concave throat moulding and lenticle-centred
rectangular door, on plinth base with moulded skirt, 229cm high excluding top
finial, 241cm overall.
Provenance: The property of a private collector.
John Knibb was born in 1650 and was apprenticed to his older brother, Joseph,
in around 1664. When Joseph moved to London in 1670 to set up business
(presumably in the workshop inherited from his uncle, Samuel) John, his younger
brother, took-on the Oxford workshop gaining the Freedom of the city on
payment of a fine in 1673. Throughout the latter three decades of the
17th century John and Joseph worked in parallel, however when the products
from both workshops are examined, it is evident that they had a close working
relationship. Joseph Knibb retired in 1697 selling-up most of his workshop before
moving to Hanslop, Buckinghamshire where he made a few clocks prior to his
death in 1711. John Knibb continued in business until his death in 1722. The
movement of the current lot is fully latched and has the feature of separate cock
for the pallet arbor (and cut-out for the pallets in the backplate) normally found on
earlier clocks by Joseph with butterfly-nut pendulum regulation, however the
casting for the pendulum hanging cock differs from those found on earlier clocks
and the use of internal countwheel for striking the hours certainly dates it towards
the end of the century. From these observations one could speculate that the
movement of the current lot may well have been acquired by John from Joseph’s
stock when he retired in 1697 or even on his death in 1711 before finishing and
fitting with a dial. The fine proportions of the case closely echoes London work of
the period. Despite being provincially made (probably Oxford) the case does
exhibit features such as the distinctive spherical finials with button-shaped caps
(which are often seen on other longcase clocks by the Knibb family) which set
it aside from other provincial examples of the period.
£10,000-15,000
01635 553553
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