Rhode Island Furniture Archive - Yale University Art Gallery

Photo: Courtesy private collection; photo by Anthony De Camillo Click the image to enlarge	Tall case clock
	Object number RIF2161
	Maker Clockmaker James Wady, died 1759 Casemaker Unknown
	Dimensions 98 � 21 1/4 � 10 1/2 in. (248.92 � 53.98 � 26.67 cm)
	Date ca. 1752
	Current location Private Collection
	Geography Made in Newport, Rhode Island (view a map of Rhode Island)
	Medium Mahogany (primary); chestnut (backboard); pine (bottom board, glue blocks on feet, core of molding below hood, top of hood); yellow poplar (glue blocks); oak (back of hood, brace under top of hood)
	Marks "JAMES : WADY : NEWPORT," engraved on dial arch
	Inscriptions "Repaired Janry [ry superscript] 4th 185[8?] / F. Farmer / Boston / Masstts, / 3-31-1856 Wm Bagley / New York [scratched out] / Repaired Jan 22 1879 / Frank Almy / August - 9 - 1868 / W Adams / Repaired July 3d 1884 / Mr. Arngen [or Arnyer] / May 26 1891," in graphite, on inside of waist door; "1752," in ink, on a piece of paper glued to interior of backboard
	Provenance Colonel Job Almy (1681–1767), Tiverton, Rhode Island; by descent to his son, John Almy (1720–1808); by descent to his son, Lieutenant Sanford Almy (1759–1844); by descent to his son, Frederick Almy (1786–1877); by descent to his son, John Simmons Almy (1815–1904); by descent to his son, Valentine Almy (1863–1917); by descent to his son, John Hull Almy (1897–1983); sold to a private collector, 1970. Bernard and S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York, 2006
	Associated names Colonel Job Almy John Hull Almy John Almy Bernard and S. Dean Levy, Inc. Valentine Almy Lieutenant Sanford Almy John Simmons Almy Frederick Almy
	Construction The removable arched hood is surmounted by three plain rectangular plinths, each having a turned finial, above a crown molding with a ressaulted keystone element above an arched molding over two round and two half-round colonettes with turned brass and capitals. The arched and glazed door opens to a brass dial and works. The crown molding at the hood is in two parts as are the moldings at the top and bottom of the waist. The arched, lipped, thumbmolded convex-blocked and shell-carved waist door is carved from the solid. Within the case are multiple rectangular vertical glue blocks. The waist sides are single boards, as are the sides and front of the plain base, which are nailed with brads. The cove molding at the base is joined to the case with wood pins. The straight-sided bracket feet are reinforced by mitered horizontal glueblocks above vertical glueblocks. Their faces are joined with wood pins. The backs of the rear legs are simple incurvate brackets set into grooves in the side brackets. Examined by P.E. Kane, May 10, 2006; notes compiled by T.B. Lloyd.
	Bibliography "Bernard and S. Dean Levy, Inc., advertisement," Antiques 170, no. 2 (August 2006): 1, ill. Richard L. Champlin, "William Claggett and His Clockmaking Family," Supplement to the Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. 11 (Summer 1976): 32–33, fig. 18–19. Patricia E. Kane et al., Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2016), 102, 369, fig. 5. Donald L. Fennimore and Frank L. Hohmann III, Claggett: Newport's Illustrious Clockmakers (Winterthur, Del.: Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library, 2018), 246, JW-6. Richard L. Champlin, "James Wady," Newport History 48, no. 160 (Fall 1975): 354, 357, ill.