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Photo: Courtesy of Gary R. Sullivan, photo by David Hansen
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Tall case clock

Object number

RIF227

Maker

Maker, formerly attributed to Job Townsend, Sr., 1699–1765
Clockmaker James Wady, died 1759
Casemaker Unknown

Dimensions

Height, without finials: 93 in. (236.22 cm) Width: 11 1/4 in. (28.575 cm) Depth: 11 1/4 in. (28.575 cm) Width, dial: 12 in. (30.48 cm)

Date

1745–59

Current location

Private Collection

Geography

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

Medium

Mahogany

Marks

"JAMES WADY NEWPORT," engraved in dial arch

Provenance

Christie's, New York, January 18, 2002, lot 388

Associated names

Christie's

Bibliography

Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., "Quaker Baroque: How Political and Religious Freedom Inspired a Dynasty of American Cabinet-Makers," Christie's Magazine (May–June 2002): 113, ill.
Frank L. Hohmann III et al., Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks (New York: Hohmann Holdings, 2009), 302–303, no. 94, ill.
Christie's, New York, Important American Furniture, Silver, and Folk Art: Featuring English Pottery from the Collection of the Late Robert J. Kahn and the Lafayette-Washington Pistols, sale cat. (January 18–19, 2002), 218–225, lot 388, ill.
"Christie's advertisement," Antiques 161, no. 1 (January 2002): 46, ill.
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), 111n17.
Christie's, New York, Important American Furniture, Folk Art, and Silver, sale cat. (January 19, 2018), 78, fig. 3.
Donald L. Fennimore and Frank L. Hohmann III, Claggett: Newport's Illustrious Clockmakers (Winterthur, Del.: Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library, 2018), 151, 212–13, 246, no. 19, JW-3, fig. 5.27.
The Claggetts of Newport: Master Clockmakers in Colonial America, exh. cat. (Newport, R I.: Redwood Library and Athenaeum, 2019), 40, ill.