An Important Chippendale Tall Case Clock with Musical Works by Paul Rimbault, London, the carving attributed to Martin Jugiez (c. 1730-1815), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Circa 1775

Ron and Julie Palladino, Solvang Antiques Center, Solvang, California;

Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana, January 15, 16 & 18, 2004, sale 7959, lot 666.

Catalogue of the Education Exhibit of the State of Pennsylvania, (Lancaster, PA, 1876): class 323. Possibly the “clock, from Mr. A. Krueger, 723 North 10^th St. Phil.”

The clock may have been exhibited in the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876 by Augustus Krueger, a Philadelphia watchmaker, who displayed a tall case clock in class 323 in the kindergarten of the Pennsylvania Education Hall.

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Standing over 9 feet tall and overlaid with masterful carving, this monumental clock is one of the finest Rococo style tall-case clocks to survive from Colonial Philadelphia (fig. 1). Its early history is unknown prior to circa 1984, when the previous owners purchased it at a local carpet shop in California. They later sold it in these rooms, Important Americana, January 15, 16 & 18, 2004, sale 7959, lot 666 for $803,000, achieving a world record for the form. This clock is in remarkable condition and appears to retain nearly all of its original components, including its cartouche, rosette terminals, applied scroll board carving, and musical movement.

Inscribed Paul Rimbault London, the musical movement of the clock was made by Paul Rimbault, a clockmaker working in London at 9 Denmark St., Saint Giles in the Fields (Soho) from about 1770 until his death in 1785.¹ He was a member of an famous family of clockmakers of Huguenot descent who flourished in London from about 1700 until the end of the eighteenth century. This movement he appears to have made during the reign of George III for one of the eight melodies in the musical program is God Save the King. Other melodies include Chiling O Guiry, Ally Croaker, Miller of Mansfield, March, Lilebiraro, Bedford Time, and Mear Tune (fig. 2).

The case of the clock is made of vibrantly figured mahogany and features extraordinary carved elements on the cartouche and tympanum that are consistent with the work of Martin Jugiez (c. 1730-1815), one of Philadelphia’s most talented immigrant carvers during the late eighteenth century. He likely trained in Paris and arrived in Philadelphia (via London) in the late 1750s.² He was in partnership with Nicholas Bernard from the early 1760s and was the primary carver in their business with a fully developed working style. By 1783, Jugiez had established a separate business. These two carvers and their work is the focus of the article by Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, “A Table’s Tale: Crafts, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia, American Furniture, (Hanover and London: The Chipstone Foundation, 2004), pp. 2-45.

Closely related carving attributed by Beckerdite and Miller to Martin Jugiez is found on the tympanum and cartouche of a high chest of drawers that sold in these rooms, Highly Important Americana from the Stanley Paul Sax Collection, January 16-7, 1999, sale 7087, lot 522 (fig. 3 and 6).³ Beckerdite and Miller note that the high chest can also be attributed to Nicholas Bernard, who carved the knees, shell drawers and claw feet as well as all of the carving on the matching dressing table.⁴ Similar tympanum and cartouche carving attributed to Jugiez is featured on a chest on chest in a private collection and a high chest in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (acc. no. 1927-91-1) (figs. 4, 7 and 8).⁵ A Philadelphia tall case clock in the collection of the Chipstone foundation has a similarly carved applique, attributed to Jugiez, has a movement by the London clockmaker, William Addis (figs. 5 and 9).⁶

A letter attached to the inside of the case door typed on stationery from the manse of the First Presbyterian Church at 210 West Madison Street in Baltimore, Maryland indicates this clock may have been owned at one time by a minister of that church. According to the letter, the movement is inscribed with the names of clockmakers who cleaned it over the years. On November 13, 1781, this clock was cleaned by Henry Hofner, a watchmaker listed in the Philadelphia city directory at 148 North Front. Benjamin Monevth (sic) cleaned it on January 6, 1796. Charles Frederick Hugenin, a watch and clockmaker working at 11 North Fifth Street, worked on it in February of 1796. John Child, whose name is inscribed on the slide controlling the chime barrel, worked on the clock in 1807. The names of John Cook and James Huss also appear on the chime barrel. On January 6, 1820, the clock was cleaned by Henry Ebaugh while he was employed by C.A. Droz, a Philadelphia clock and watchmaker working at 113 Walnut Street. John Chamberlain and William W. Alexander worked on the clock in February of 1844.

In March of 1876, Augustus Krueger, a watchmaker working on North 10^th Street in Philadelphia, and Adam Gross cleaned this clock for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the first major World’s Fair in this country which celebrated 100 years of American Cultural and industrial progress. This clock may be the one that Krueger displayed under class 323 in the Pennsylvania Education Hall as part of the exhibition on the system of public instruction in Pennsylvania.⁷ It may correspond to the one listed in the Catalogue of the Education Exhibit of the State of Pennsylvania as “clock, from Mr. A. Krueger, 723 North 10^th St. Phil.” displayed in the kindergarten.⁸ This clock was cleaned by Krueger again in 1878 his name is inscribed a second time on the movement with the date May 1878.

¹ Arthur Ord-Hume, The Musical Clock, Derbyshire, England, 1995, p. 324.

² Alexandra Kirtley, American Furniture, 1650-1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2020): no. 44, p. 80.

³ See Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, "A Table’s Tale: Crafts, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia", published in American Furniture, (Hanover and London: The Chipstone Foundation, 2004): fig. 30. P. 17 and fig. 33, p. 19.

⁴ See ibid, figs. 31 and 32, p. 18.

⁵ See ibid, figs. 38 and 39, pp. 22 and 23 and https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/147314.

⁶ See ibid, figs. 41 and 42, p. 25.

⁷ Pennsylvania and the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1878.

⁸ Catalogue of the Education Exhibit of the State of Pennsylvania, published in Lancaster, PA, 1876.