17th Century William and Mary Marquetry Longcase Clock, Signed Apply

17th Century William and Mary Marquetry Longcase Clock, Signed Apply

A wonderful late seventeenth-century rising hood 10-inch William and Mary eight-day floral marquetry olive oyster longcase clock by Edmund Appley, London, c. 1680-1685.

The attractive and fine olive oyster-veneered case is of the highest quality and decorated throughout in floral and leaf marquetry depicting spring flowers, a bird and scrolling foliage, each on a ground of ebony within a panel bordered with boxwood.

The trunk door reflects the ebonised mouldings and pillars on the hood and is bordered by an ebonised D-moulding with a circular lenticle set within an ebonised moulding. The rising hood is decorated with fine scrolling blind fretwork and cavetto moulding, flanked by tapering ebonised barley-twist columns. Large linear viewing windows of glass sit to each side of the hood.

The cross-banded sides have been carefully thought out too, with small sections of saw-cut olive oyster veneer, each carefully book-matched.

Raised on four ebonised bun feet.

The whole case is of extremely good colour and has the most lovely age-patinated surfaces.

The eight-day five pillar movement has going and striking trains. The striking train is regulated by an inside countwheel (the detent mounted externally and engaging through a slot in the backplate). The going train has anchor escapement with bolt and shutter maintaining power and a seconds pendulum. The backplate is mounted with a brass L-shaped bracket located against a conforming iron bracket set into the backboard.

The 10-inch brass dial has a solid silver chapter ring, seconds ring and date aperture. A wonderful sign of quality. The silver chapter ring is divided into Roman hour numerals as well as quarter-hour, fleur-de-lys half-hour, Arabic five-minute and minute divisions. It is surrounded by solid silver winged cherub-head spandrels in the corners and is signed along the bottom of the brass plate “Edmund Appley Charing Cross”. The centre is finely matted, showing the shutters in a closed position, whilst the time is indicated by a fine pair of richly pierced blued-steel hands.

The maker
Edmund Appley was born the son of Humphrey Appley, a weaver, in 1656. He was apprenticed to Jeffrey Bayley in 1670 and made free in London in 1677. From 1681 he took apprentices himself, working in Charing Cross. He died on a visit to Edinburgh in 1688 and was buried there. Longcase clocks, bracket clocks and lantern clocks by his hand are known.

Height 198 cm with a height of 225 cm with the hood raised to wind.