{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O52899"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O52899/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8692/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8692/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM8692","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM8693","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM8690","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KX0640","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O52899/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O52899","accessionNumber":"W.15:1,2-1958","objectType":"Clock","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>As well as keeping time, clocks served as ornaments to be prominently displayed in all the main rooms of the house. Since clocks were so highly valued, they were often lavishly decorated. This one combines an unglazed white porcelain known as 'biscuit' with gilt bronze, elegant marquetry and a painted scene. <br><br><b>People </b><br>The clock was made by the firm of Benjamin Vulliamy, clockmaker to George III. The King was passionately interested in clocks and there is one by Vulliamy, dated 1786 and very similar to this, at  Windsor Castle. The London firm of Thomas Brownley, who made the case, specialised in this work. The pedestal was probably painted by Thomas Bromley, a decorative painter. The biscuit figures are based on models that are likely to have been made by John Deare (1759-1798). He was a sculptor from Liverpool and the youngest Royal Academy gold medallist of his day. From 1785 until his death, Deare enjoyed a very successful career in Rome. <br><br><b>Subjects Depicted</b><br>The figures looking at the clock are Venus and Cupid. On the pedestal is the Greek god Apollo, surrounded by the signs of the Zodiac. This scene derives from an engraved gemstone illustrated in Bernard de Montfaucon's <i>Antiquity Explained</i>, published in London between 1721 and 1722.","physicalDescription":"A clock in a case of marble and Derby porcelain, with gilt-brass mounts, mounted on a tall plinth veneered in satinwood and mahogany, with an oval painted panel showing Apollo driving the chariot of the sun, surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. The top is made with a central, tapering panel, which gives the appearance of a tapering, sculptural plinth. The clock face is mounted in a section of a fluted pillar and a figure of a man in classical drapery is consulting it, and showing it to a child. To the right of the column is a vase. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Vulliamy, Benjamin","id":"A8958"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"satinwood","id":"AAT12451"},{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"biscuit porcelain","id":"AAT242297"},{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"},{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"},{"text":"gilt brass","id":"x38746"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cabinet-making","id":"AAT53607"},{"text":"veneering","id":"AAT53878"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"enamelling","id":"x37485"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Plinth veneered in satinwood and mahogany; the porcelain clock with enamel dial.","categories":[{"text":"Clocks & Watches","id":"THES48976"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Household objects","id":"THES48939"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"},{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[{"text":"Neo-classicism","id":"x38958"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AM8692","2006AM8693","2006AM8690","2018KX0640"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"118E (VA)","id":"THES49228"},"free":"","case":"PL7","shelf":"","box":"46"},{"current":{"text":"118E (VA)","id":"THES49228"},"free":"","case":"PL7","shelf":"","box":"46"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Clock","id":""}],[{"text":"Pedestal","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1787","earliest":"1787-01-01","latest":"1787-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"W.16:1-1958","id":"O52903"},"association":"Pair"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"173","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"48.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"20","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Inscribed on ormolu scroll at base of steps 'Fugit irreperabile tempus. Virgil'; on back of clock regulator BREVETE SGDG","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8877"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"Vulliamy London 1787","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"This signature is engraved on the gilt-brass base of the marble column"}],"objectHistory":"This, and its pair (W.16-1958) were almost certainly made in London by Vulliamy & Son; figures purchased from the Derby porcelain factory; stand probably made in London by Thomas Brownley (active 1768-1803) and probably painted by John Bromley (active 1768-1803). The clocks and barometers sold by the firm of Vulliamy, with their classical sculptural  figures, competed in a luxury market in which French products led the field. The design of this stand, and that of the matching barometer nearby, reflect a move towards simplicity that marked Neo-classical design from the late 1780s onwards.\n\nThree other, more complex, clocks on similar plinths are known, in the State Dining Room, Buckingham Palace, one in a private collection and one with the Parisian dealer Kugel, shown at TEFAF fair, 2025.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"A clock in a case of marble and Derby porcelain, mounted on a tall plinth veneered in satinwood and mahogany, with an oval painted panel showing Apollo driving the chariot of the sun.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Roger Smith, 'Benjamin Vulliamy's painted satinwood clocks and pedestals', Apollo, june 1995, pp.25-33."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Alison Kelly, 'A Clockmaker's Taste for Ceramics', <i>Country Life</i>, 15 June 1967 (vol. CXLI no. 3667), pp. 1526-8, this and its pair illustrated as figs. 2 and 3."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tomlin, Maurice, <u>Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture </u>(London: HMSO for the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1972), cat. N/11, p. 114."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"figures","id":"AAT189808"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"PEDESTAL CLOCK\r\nENGLISH; about 1787\r\nMarble mounted in ormolu with figures of Derby porcelain on a satinwood plinth.\r\n\r\nSigned by Benjamin Vuillamy, Clockmaker to George III.  En suite with barometer (W.16-1958).","date":{"text":"pre October 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["W.15:1-1958","W.15:2-1958"],"accessionNumberNum":"15","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1958,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Clock","Pedestal"],"assets":["2019LN0737","2019LN2113","2019LR3146","2019LR2484","2019LR2483","2019LR1979","2019LR1234","2019LP9476","2019LP4818","2019LP4038","2019LP2240","2019LR6610","2019LU5224","2019LU0937","2019LV6234","2019LV5549"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-29","recordCreationDate":"2001-01-24","availableToBook":false}}