Bamfords Auctioneers & Valuers
Los 2228
A Victorian mahogany long case clock, the 34cm arched painted dial inscribed John Smith, Derby, painted with the four continents to spandrels, lunar phases to arch, Roman numerals, subsidiary second and date dial, twin winding holes, eight day movement striking on a bell, the hood with swan neck cresting terminating with draught turned roundels, turned columns, shaped door to waist, flanked by fluted angles, bracket feet, 220cm high, c.1840 John Smith (1813-1886) was born at Hognaston, where his father was a tenant farmer, but who sprang from a line of braziers in Derby. He was apprenticed to John Whitehurst II in 1827, becoming an employee with his son, John Whitehurst III in 1834. He resigned after a disagreement with the works manager, Thomas Wodward in 1846, and set up on his own at 126, Nun Street, Derby moving to 27, Queen Street as John Smith & Sons in 1850, and his posterity ran the firm from these premises until 1999 when Smiths, since the 1870s concentrating on turret clocks, moved to Alfreton Road, Derby. The present clock probably dates from the 1850s. The artist who painted the dial seems to have been a prolific local man; another clock (by a different maker) has been noted with the same country house in the breakarch. The artist probably had to hand engrave Basildon Park, from J. P. Neale, Views of Seats, etc., 2nd Series, (4 Vols., London 1825) II, although the rendition here is slightly simplified and impressionistic
