A RARE MID-17TH CENTURY ENGLISH BRASS SECOND PERIOD STRIKING LANTERN CLOCK WITH PIERCED DIAL CENTRE, CIRCA 1655

A RARE MID-17TH CENTURY ENGLISH BRASS SECOND PERIOD STRIKING LANTERN CLOCK WITH PIERCED DIAL CENTRE, CIRCA 1655, having a 6¼-inch Roman chapter ring with star-shaped half-hour markers surrounding an unusual openwork cast-brass dial centre, secured as an applied overlay and fitted with a single cast hand. The posted brass frame has turned corner pillars and finials, ball feet, brass side doors and pierced foliate frets, surmounted by a strapped domed bell and central finial. The two-train weight-driven movement has a later anchor escapement and strikes the hours on the bell.

The pierced cast-brass dial centre is a particularly uncommon feature. Most English lantern clocks of the period were fitted with solid dial centres engraved with tulips or other floral ornament; the present clock instead employs an openwork brass overlay secured to the dial. This distinctive treatment is associated with a small documented group of English Second Period lantern clocks dating from the middle of the 1650s.

The term Second Period describes the transitional phase of English lantern-clock production following the highly decorative First Period clocks of the earlier 17th century. Although the elaborate strapwork ornament of the preceding period was gradually superseded by engraved floral dial centres and changing fret designs, some makers continued to employ related pierced decoration. The combination of foliate frets, turned pillars, cast hand and pierced dial centre places the present clock firmly within this transitional tradition.

George White records two comparable Second Period lantern clocks with pierced brass overlays in place of the more usual engraved dial centres. Both examples retain cast hands and are dated to the mid-1650s. The present unsigned clock closely corresponds with this small group in the design of its openwork centre, chapter ring and general posted-frame construction.

Although unsigned, the clock represents a recognised and notably scarce variation within mid-17th-century English lantern-clock production. Its significance lies in the unusual pierced dial centre and its relationship to the limited group of surviving Second Period clocks employing this distinctive decorative technique.

For comparable examples, see George White, English Lantern Clocks, pp. 140–141, figs. III/31 and III/32.

6 1/4in diameter