Walnut tall case 8-day clock has molded bonnet w/ arched top & a step-down molded frieze. All four corners have turned sausage & ring columns w/ fluted & tapered terminals (tapered only at clock sides). Tombstone door and side windows. White iron dial has Roman numeral chapter ring; other numerals Arabic. Three iron hands. Small seconds wheel below XII and working moon phase wheel at top. Raised gilt floral & foliate spandrels. Signed in cursive at dial bottom: "Frederick Maus". Below is "PHILADELPHIA" over "No. 1".
Philadelphia (clockworks) and likely Lancaster Co. (case)
Waist has fluted quarter columns and tombstone arched door of figured wood w/ conforming opening, a top rail also of figured wood, and mitered joints at top. Door hinges replaced; lock repositioned upward. Base has fluted quarter columns; front has an applied turtle-form panel of unusually elongated "legs". Ogee bracket feet replaced. Case is not Phila.; most likely Lancaster Co.
Frederick Maus made clocks in Philadelphia circa 1780s. Son of Jacob Maus (?-1785), also a clockmaker. He is known to have traveled to Lancaster at least once, Aug or Sept 1861. One of his clocks is owned by Independence Hall.
Provenance
Owned and passed down through the Bausman family
First owner was reportedly Andreas Bausman (1734-1814) who settled near Lancaster c. 1755 and bought 317 acres along what is now Millersville Pike, Bausman, PA. When he died in 1814 he was one of the wealthiest farmers in the county. (See "clock and case" on his 1814 inventory). Having no heirs, his nephew, John Bausman (1780-1861), immigrated to Lancaster from Germany in 1802 to take over Andreas' estate. He lived there and was a successful farmer until his death in 1861.
Descent in Bausman family, finally to donor's gr. grandfather Bausman, to his daughter (donor's grandmother) Lula Bausman (married Walt Dunlap)who willed clock to donor.
Case with black lacquer finish and gilt Chinoiserie. Interior consists of multiple shelfs and storage areas. Top lid opens to reveal two closed compartments surrounding four open compartments. Front doors open to 4 drawers. Three drawers face the front below the doors.
