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Auction: 25360 - The 360th Anniversary Sale
Lot: 63

THE KING'S BEDCHAMBER WATCH

A Monumental Silver Clock Watch, Made for William III, King of Great Britain (1650-1702) by the royal clock maker Thomas Herbert, English, circa 1695, having verge escapement and an hour-striking action on one bell, in an inner silver case pierced and engraved with flowers and foliage in the manner of Jacques Vauquer (1621-1686), with a silver studded fish skin outer case depicting the royal cypher WR surmounted by a crown. Movement signed Thos Herbert; silver case bearing maker's mark of Jonathan Jones.
Approx: 4 inches / 103mm.
Of monumental proportions, exceptional quality and condition, and beautifully decorated with pierced and engraved flowers so familiar to a Dutch born King, an extraordinary opportunity to own an extremely rare example of Herbert's workmanship, even more so with such a provenance.

King William III was the son of King Charles I's daughter, Mary and Prince William of Orange. Following political turmoil in the Netherlands during his minority, he eventually succeeded as ruler there in 1672. In 1688, he was invited to England to oppose James II's pro-Catholic policies, and with his wife Mary, was created Joint Sovereign, by Act of Parliament, in February 1689. Following Mary's death in 1694, William ruled alone. William was a keen art collector who renovated and decorated his favoured residences at Hampton Court and Kensington Palace. He had a particular interest in clocks and was an enthusiastic patron of Thomas Herbert's rival Thomas Tompion.

This watch may have hung in the King's bedchamber. Herbert supplied alarm clocks 'of custom allowed to the seven pages of the King's bedchamber every third year'. However, with no alarm, this exceptionally large watch may have been for the King's personal use. Likewise, on the day of his execution in 1649, King Charles I had gifted to an attendant 'the silver Clock that hung by the Bedside'. Now in the Royal Collection, that clock watch was made by Herbert's father-in-law Edward East.

Thomas Herbert was successively royal watch and clock maker to three Kings: Charles II, James II and William III, and to two Queens: Mary II and Anne. Apprenticed to Richard Lyons, Herbert was made Free of the Clockmakers Company in 1676, the same year that he married Sarah East, daughter of Edward East (1602-1696), watch and clock maker to King Charles I. By 1685, Herbert dwelt 'over against the Royal Coffee-house near Whitehall'. Appointed to the Court in 1676 on a salary of £200 a year, Herbert made the public clocks at Horse Guards, St. James's Palace, The Tower of London and Kensington Palace, and maintained the clock at Hampton Court where he came into conflict with Sir Christopher Wren who believed that all ?House Clocks' should fall under the remit of the Office of Works, which Wren headed. Unfortunately, the crown was a notoriously bad payer and by the end of Queen Anne's reign, despite frequent appeals for payment, Herbert was bankrupt.



Provenance

King William III of England and Ireland, II of Scotland and Willem III, Prince of Orange (1650-1702).



Exhibited

Meyrick Nelson of Tetbury Ltd & Stair and Company Ltd, Exhibition of Fine English Clocks, Mount Street, London, 8th to 30th June 1971.



Published

Jagger, Cedric, Royal Clocks: The British Monarchy and its Timekeepers 1300-1900 (London, 1983), where discussed on page 58 and illustrated on page 55.


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Estimate
£100,000 to £120,000

Starting price
£90000