Very Rare Queen Anne Walnut Tall Case Clockworks by Jacob Graff (1725-1778)Lebanon, Lebanon County, PennsylvaniaCirca 1750 The case appears to retain its original surface and is composed of four parts, a base molding, base, waist and hood. The dial is inscribed IACOB GRAF.Height 88 in. by Width 21 3/4 in. by Depth 12 1/2 in.ProvenanceThurston Nichols, Breinigsville, Pennsylvania.Catalogue noteThis clock is a very rare and early example of a Pennsylvania German tall-case clock. It is one of four tall-case clocks known with a movement made by Jacob Graff (1729-1778) of Lebanon, Lancaster (now Lebanon) County, Pennsylvania. He was working in Lebanon as a clockmaker by 1750, when his name appears in tax records. At his death in 1778, he left his clockmaking tools valued at 40 pounds to his eldest son, John. Another Pennsylvania German tall-case clock made by Jacob Graff is in the collection of Winterthur Museum.1 It was originally owned by George (1706-1784) and Maria Caterina Miller of Heidelberg Township, Lancaster County (now Millcreek Township, Lebanon County). It has an eight-day movement with a moon phase dial and date aperture with a disc indicating the day of the week. The brass and silvered dial is inscribed “Jacob Graff Machet Dieses” (Jacob Graff Made This). It has a walnut case with a canted pediment inlaid with a shell on the hood and tulip and pinwheel motifs on the door and base panel.Two other tall case clocks with a movement by Jacob Graff are in private collections. These include one originally owned by Leonard Holstine whose 1760 estate settlement records a payment by his executors of 3 pounds five shillings to “Jacob Graff in part of a Clock.”2 The other example displays a musical movement.31 Wendy Cooper and Lisa Minardi, Paint, Pattern & People: Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1725-1850 (Winterthur, DE: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 2011), p. 132 fig. 3.26.2 Ibid, endnote 42, p. 219.3 Frank L. Hohmann III, Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks (New York: Hohmann Holdings LLC, 2009), pp. 222-3, 341.
Very Rare Queen Anne Walnut Tall Case Clockworks by Jacob Graff (1725-1778)Lebanon, Lebanon County, PennsylvaniaCirca 1750 The case appears to retain its original surface and is composed of four parts, a base molding, base, waist and hood. The dial is inscribed IACOB GRAF.Height 88 in. by Width 21 3/4 in. by Depth 12 1/2 in.ProvenanceThurston Nichols, Breinigsville, Pennsylvania.Catalogue noteThis clock is a very rare and early example of a Pennsylvania German tall-case clock. It is one of four tall-case clocks known with a movement made by Jacob Graff (1729-1778) of Lebanon, Lancaster (now Lebanon) County, Pennsylvania. He was working in Lebanon as a clockmaker by 1750, when his name appears in tax records. At his death in 1778, he left his clockmaking tools valued at 40 pounds to his eldest son, John. Another Pennsylvania German tall-case clock made by Jacob Graff is in the collection of Winterthur Museum.1 It was originally owned by George (1706-1784) and Maria Caterina Miller of Heidelberg Township, Lancaster County (now Millcreek Township, Lebanon County). It has an eight-day movement with a moon phase dial and date aperture with a disc indicating the day of the week. The brass and silvered dial is inscribed “Jacob Graff Machet Dieses” (Jacob Graff Made This). It has a walnut case with a canted pediment inlaid with a shell on the hood and tulip and pinwheel motifs on the door and base panel.Two other tall case clocks with a movement by Jacob Graff are in private collections. These include one originally owned by Leonard Holstine whose 1760 estate settlement records a payment by his executors of 3 pounds five shillings to “Jacob Graff in part of a Clock.”2 The other example displays a musical movement.31 Wendy Cooper and Lisa Minardi, Paint, Pattern & People: Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1725-1850 (Winterthur, DE: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 2011), p. 132 fig. 3.26.2 Ibid, endnote 42, p. 219.3 Frank L. Hohmann III, Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks (New York: Hohmann Holdings LLC, 2009), pp. 222-3, 341.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
