A Very Fine and Rare Classical 'George Washington' Shelf Clock, made for the American Market likely by Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (1743-1817), Paris, retailed by Thomas, Benjamin, and Samuel DeMilt, New York, Circa 1815

Christie’s, New York, October 28, 1992, sale 7530, lot 157;

Israel Sack, Inc., New York.

Israel Sack, Inc., Celebrating Our 90th Anniversary, New York, 1993, p. 81, no. P6489;

Jonathan Snellenburg, "George Washington in Bronze: A Survey of the Memorial Clocks," Antiques and Fine Art, Winter 2001, discussed;

Israel Sack Archives, Yale University, no. 6489;

www.georgewashingtonclocks.com/dials, p. 4, dial illustrated and discussed.

Shelf clocks of this type with a full-length figure of George Washington flanked by an eagle and other patriotic symbols were designed for the American market and made in the years following Washington’s death in 1799 by several Parisian clockmakers including Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (1743-1817), who worked at 33, Rue Michel-le-Compte from 1806-1817 and served as maître-horloger to the Compte d’Artois, the brother of Louis XVI. Dubuc may have been a bronzier who fabricated the cases and fitted them with signed clock movements bought from the clock trade.¹ The clocks were imported to America and sold by local retailers.

With a dial inscribed Demilt New Yorck, this clock is the only known example that is customized with the name of its American retailers, Thomas Demilt (1768-1816) and Benjamin Demilt (circa 1780-1835) of New York. From 1802-1816, they operated a prosperous clockmaking, watchmaking, chronometer and silversmith business at 156 Water Street and then 239 Pearl Street in New York as DEMILT. After Thomas died in 1816, Benjamin established a partnership in 1820 with Samuel Demilt (circa 1787-1845) as B. & S. DEMILT. They continued to operate their business on Pearl Street until Benjamin died in 1835 and Samuel retired in 1839 at which time the business was taken over by their employee, Dominic Eggert.²

The clock offered here survives in a remarkable state of preservation. It follows the general design of other ormolu clocks of the type with George Washington dressed in the uniform he wore while serving as Commander-in-Chief, derived from a 1796 engraving by Thomas Chessman after John Trumbull’s portrait, General George Washington before the Battle of Trenton (1792).³ His figure flanks the clock, which is surmounted by an American eagle, the symbol of the new Republic, with the motto “e Pluribus Unum” (out of many, one) above. The swag below the dial is inscribed “WASHINGTON / The First in War, First in PEACE / And in his COUNTRYMEN’ HEARTS, a quotation from the funeral oration given by General Henry (“Light-Horse Harry”) Lee before both houses of Congress in Philadelphia on December 26, 1799. The scene in relief on the base depicts Washington’s resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in 1783.

A nearly identical clock with only minor differences in the posture and figure of General Washington sold in these rooms, Highly Important Americana from the Stanley Paul Sax Collection, January 16-17, 1997, sale 7087, lot 429 for $74,000. Another closely related Dubuc clock lacking all four feet sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 21-22, 2000, sale 7420, lot 587 for $55,200. An additional related example lacking one foot sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 16-17, 1999 sale 7253, lot 709 for $156,500.

¹ Jonathan Snellenburg, “George Washington in Bronze: A Survey of the Memorial Clocks, Antiques and Fine Art, Winter 2001: p. 4.

² Ibid. See also Marvin E. Whitney, “The Ship’s Chronometer,” Horological Times (April 1981): p. 21.

³ In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 22.45.9. Snellenburg, pp. 1-2.