Doe and Hope

Description

The eight day face with arched top and rolling moon phase saw wheel, having two hemispheres and the whole being hand painted with roman numerals, the corners with floral sprays, the moon phase with a galleon ship and a cottage by a lake, the top arch’s numerals faded, surviving from the last quarter of eighteenth century England.

Once having been the face of a long case clock, this face is in as found condition and has not been cleaned or restored in any way, thus retaining its charms as a decorative piece of wall art. There is therefore wear to the paint, but it is even and commensurate with age.

The clock maker inscription is illegible but there is a pencil mark lower down which is easier to read but still rather difficult to make out. The wheel is stamped Wilson Birmingham verso. James Wilson was in partnership with T. Osborne from around 1772 to 1777 and they are widely credited with being the first real manufacturers of painted or japanned dials for clocks in imitation of the much more expensive true enamelling on to copper. Wilson died in 1809.

The purpose of a moon phase dial – like the time dial that tracks the time through the day, is to keep tract of the moon’s position as it travels around the earth, every 291/2 days – which is one lunar month.

A beautifully decorative piece of revolving wall art.