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Photo: Steve Macfarlane collection; photo by Jim Bartsch
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Tall case clock

Object number

RIF6196

Maker

Casemaker Unknown
Clockmaker Edward Spalding, American, 1732?1785

Dimensions

93 1/8 × 20 3/8 × 10 1/4 in. (236.54 × 51.75 × 26.04 cm)

Date

1780–85

Current location

Private collection

Geography

Made in Providence, Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Maple (primary); chestnut (backboard); pine (saddle board and case bottom); cherry (dial mat)

Marks

"E. Spalding / PROVIDENCE," engraved, on plate below center arbor

Inscriptions

"Nathaniel Wheaton clock given to Mary Rivers by her great aunt Eliza Wheaton Lyman," in ink, on a paper label attached to case; "This clock is inventoried as among the household possessions of Nathaniel Wheaton of Providence who died in 1795. Given to Robert Wheaton Rivers by his aunt Mary Rivers. Now in the possession of . . . ," in typescript, on paper label attached to case

Style

Chippendale, Federal

Provenance

Nathaniel Wheaton (1732–1795), Warren, Rhode Island; by descent to his granddaughter Mrs. Thomas Rivers (née Mary Wheaton, 1793–1871), Charleston, South Carolina and Providence, Rhode Island; by descent to Robert Wheaton Rivers (1882–1945), Brookline, Massachusetts, and Santa Barbara, California; by descent to his wife Rosalie Channing Rivers (died 1963), Santa Barbara, California; by descent in the family

Associated names

Nathaniel Wheaton
Mary Wheaton
Robert Wheaton Rivers
Rosalie Channing Rivers