Shelf Clocks

Artist Asaph Whitcomb 1786 - 1821

Date1808-1812

Terms

Shelf Clocks
Brass
Iron
Steel
Mahogany
Pine
Stow

Dimensions91.37 × 33 × 15.23 cm (36 × 13 × 6 in.)

Credit LineAnonymous Gift; Anonymous Gift; Anonymous Gift; Gift of the Cummings Davis Society (2003)

Object number2003.15.1

DescriptionShelf clock. Mahogany, mahogany veneer, white pine; brass, steel, painted iron. Form generally known as Mass. shelf clock, more specifically one of at least 8 surviving examples that are nearly identical and are all associated with Concord. Double case shelf clock uniquely American form. Design of upper case derived from English bracket clocks; unlike spring-driven English clocks, American clocks were weight-driven; lower case accommodates the fall of the weight. Earliest examples are associated with Willard family and date from 1780s. Daniel Munroe, Jr. (1775-1859), who trained with Simon Willard, and his brother Nathaniel (1777-1861), who trained with a Willard trainee, established a clock manufactory in Concord in 1801 and about the year 1804 were advertising clocks (timekeepers that strike the hours) and timepieces (not striking) for sale singly or "By the Dozen, at a reduced price." The clocks that the Munroes advertised were eight-day clocks, represented in the Museum collection. The Munroes manufactured two types of timepieces, one a variant of Willard's patent timepiece (a form now known as a diamond-head banjo clock); the other type is represented by this present example. There is considerable variation in the cases of Mass. shelf clocks, even among the products of a single shop. The Munroe examples, however, are very consistent in case design. The upper case has a bell-shaped plinth, molded overhanging top, bell-shaped door opening outlined with a scratch bead, and a coved molding below the door. The front of the lower case is veneered and cross-banded with line inlays. The most distinctive design feature of these cases is the base, which has a deeply scrolled skirt and tall, straight bracket feet. This base is identical in design to the base of the Daniel Munroe eight-day clock in this collection. Three of the known Munroe shelf clocks have Nathaniel Munroe's name on the dial. The best published of these is at the Yale University Art Gallery. Two others are inscribed with Daniel Munroe's name. The present clock and another in the Fred J. Johnston Museum, Kingston, N.Y., are inscribed "A.Whitcomb/ Stow" on the dial. But they are all clearly from the same shop tradition. All three have eight-day timepiece movements of typical form, that is, not appreciably different from shelf clock movements by the Willards or other of their trainees. Nathaniel Munroe's shop was located across the Milldam from his foundry, where the wheels and other brass parts were cast. The rough parts were finished in the shop, with the teeth cut by a wheel-cutting engine. Munroe had several journeymen and apprentices in the shop, including English clockmaker Samuel Platt. Platt may have been the finisher of the Yale clock; among other distinguishing details are the decorative lines turned in some of the wheels of the latter clocks, which serve no purpose and were not normally seen. Both Whitcomb clocks have original drawn flat brass pendulum rods, rather then the usual drawn iron wire rods, as found on the Munroe clock. All three cases are of the same design, though a few structural details distinguish the Munroe case from the other two. On the Whitcomb cases, the backboard continues down to form the vertical element of the rear feet, and the seating board is supported by broads that run down to the bottom board; on the Munroe case, the rear foot elements are applied and the seating board is supported by nailed on cleats. The base of the Munroe case also displays distinctive workmanship. The profile of the skirt was sawn, worked with a gouge, then in an unusual third step, worked again to remove all traces of the gouge (except, accidentally, in one small area). In addition, a slight (less than one degree) flare to the feet is achieved through angled cuts on the vertical glue blocks. Despite these differences in execution, tracings of shaped elements of the three clocks demonstrate that they were laid out with the same templates. The appearance of this timepiece and the evidence of the movement and case indicate that it is essentially a Concord product. Asaph Whitcomb's history ties him conclusively to Concord and suggests a clockmaking methodology that was not at all unusual but nevertheless was rarely documented.

Associated parts: weight (2003.15.2), pendulum (2003.15.3), and finial (2003.15.4).

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