Tall case clock with inlaid borders and mitered, figured veneers and string inlays on front surfaces. White dial has paint-decorated spandrels with raised lines of paint. Signed "SOLOMON PARKE / Philadelphia" below center dial and calendar wheel. Roman numerals on painted chapter ring; moon wheel at top.
Bonnet has scroll pediment with "reeded" face on scrolls with small, round rosettes. Three ball and spire finials, center on on keystone outlined with lightwood string inlay. String inlay outlines tympanum. Bonnet door has veneer with lightwood escutcheon inlay. Four free-standing columns.
Chamfered corners on trunk and base with triple lines of vertical lightwood stringing. Figured wood on pendulum door and base panel surrounded by wide string inlay of tiger maple? edged with lighter wood. Straight bracket feet.
Parke worked as a clockmaker in Newtown, Bucks Co. for nearly 10 years before moving to a larger facility in Philadelphia in 1790. He produced clocks under his own name until about 1805 when he changed the signature on his clocks to "Solomon Parke & Son."
Provenance
Typescript page in file states clock was owned by Elmer Ellsworth Hansell (1863-1940) and Amanda Matilda Storch (1874-1966) of Philadelphia, married 1895.
Clock then passed to son Elmer Ellsworth Hansell, Jr. (1903-1974) and wife Virginia Palmer (1907- ? ), married 1935. Elmer Jr. was a civil engineer in Lancaster, working with John H. Wickersham Eng. & Construction Co.
Bottom of interior has broken out board. Some veneer damage with small repairs. Along top of base front are three plugged screw holes.
Object ID
2003.023
Notes
Notes in file state the Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia own a Solomon Parke clock as does Mrs. Chris. Martin (Mary), of Lancaster.
Research by volunteer : Solomon Parke worked in Newtown and Southampton, Bucks County as a clockmaker. He then moved to Philadelphia where he was listed in directories from 1791-1822. At different times he signed his clocks, "Solomon Parke, Philad," "Solomon Parke and Company," and "Solomon Parke and Son." Solomon is believed to be the father of watchmaker Charles B. Solomon. He had a large clock manufactory and employed French, German, and Swiss workers in the assembly of eight day movements.
Tall case clock with Rococo case of curly maple (no other curly maple Chippendale clocks known). Brass eight-day movement uses snail striking with English locking and anchor recoil escapement. White dial has a moon wheel; brass calendar wheel visible through the square aperture above the six, seconds dial below the twelve. Arabic hour numerals. Original steel hands.
The hood bears foliate and vine carving at both front and sides with central heart motif on the tympanum. Graceful scroll pediment with typical Lancaster carved rosettes. Three flame finials appear to be original. Tall, narrow arched side lights. Fluted columns on bonnet, fluted quarter columns on slender waist section, and elaborately scalloped raised panel on base. Arched pendulum door. Ogee bracket feet. Sides of the trunk interior have been heavily gouged out to accommodate the swing of the pendulum. This is unusual, but can also be seen in the corner cupboard with John Hoff clock G.94.10.1.
Attributed to Gottlieb Eberman (1759-1801).
Provenance
John Snyder states clock descended through many generations of the Habecker family of Manor Twp.
Multiple losses to applied vine carvings on hood. Painted dial repainted. Case was poorly refinished. Wear at feet. Replaced moon wheel drive; replaced seatboard for clockworks. Gouged out interior sides for pendulum. Single rosehead nail on left side of interior trunk.
Object ID
1991.999
Notes
See articles by J.J. Snyder, Jr. in the Magazine Antiques for May 1974; May 1975 and May 1984.
