Tall case clock, Chippendale case with eight-day movement. Dial is painted white with rose spandrels, moon wheel, and is signed very faintly, "Peter Spycker/ Williamsburg." John Peter Spyck(h)er's clocks are rare.
Walnut case with poplar backboards is highly carved. Three flame finials rest on reeded plinths atop scroll pediment with dentils and 12-point rosettes. Tympanum is relief-carved with a central flower flanked by vining. Waist and base have vine-carved quarter columns with smooth lamb's tongues. Arched waist door accented by a deeply incised shell carving near top. Base has raised base panel with corner volutes and central shell. Ogee replacement feet.
Made by Peter Spycker (1756?-1830). Case attributed to Peter or John Rank or Daniel Arndt.
Jonestown (formerly Williamsburg), PA (almost certainly)
See Notes
Provenance
1783-1883 White Horse Tavern near Jonestown; 1883-1914 Bross family of Brosstown (near Rt 72 & 22); 1914-1963 Harry Lesher of Jonestown; 1963-1979 Donald L. Mohn, Jonestown; 1979-1981 William DuPont, Wilmington, DE; 1981 to donor. (Info from Donald L. Mohn)
Jonestown's White Horse Tavern was kept by John Rank (Peter Rank's brother) in the early years of the 19th c. (Clock is based on design sketch from Peter Rank's account book.)
Reported by Carter Harris: a #1 is scratched on front plate of movement and front of seatboard.
Inscription Type
Inscription
Object Name
Clock, Tall Case
Material
Wood, Glass, Brass
Height (cm)
256.54
Height (ft)
8.4166666667
Height (in)
101
Width (cm)
61.595
Width (ft)
2.0208333333
Width (in)
24.25
Depth (cm)
29.5275
Depth (ft)
0.96875
Depth (in)
11.625
Condition Notes
Flame finials replaced recently (copied from similar Heinselman clock at York Bank in York); ogee feet replace bracket feet which replaced earlier feet; door escutcheon replaced; severe crack in base with loss of wood; dentil molding on front replaced. Movement overhauled by Carter Harris, 1982.
Object ID
G.81.20
Notes
JJ Snyder research (in file) identifies maker as Peter Spycker, Jr., the clockmaker recorded on Tax Lists for Tulpehocken Twp, Berks Co., in 1789 as "Peter Spycker Junr. - Clock Maker". In June 1803, Spycker purchased property in Jonestown(Williamsburg) & he may have rented before this date. An 1829 deed mentions "Peter Spyker of Swatara Twp. in the Co. of Lebanon...Clock Maker..." Williamsburg (Jonestown), when founded about 1761 by William Jones, was part of Lancaster Co., then Dauphin Co. in 1785 and part of Lebanon Co. in 1816.
Snyder states "all major elements of the design of this case are virtually identical to a design sketch for a clock case in the account book of a Jonestown joiner, Peter Rank (1770-1851). This account book is in the Joseph Downs Manuscript and Microfilm Collection of the Winterthur Museum." Snyder also notes that the handwriting of this sketch's label is not Rank's. It is possible that these sketches may have been done by joiner Daniel Arndt, whose name also appears in the manuscript."
See "Jonestown School" in Cooper & Minardi, Paint, Pattern & People, pp. 89-91.
Snyder notes it is likely that this clock case illustrates the closest relationship to a design sketch known for any American Chippendale furniture.
The white dial precludes a date earlier than the 1780s.
Place of Origin
Jonestown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
Related Item Notes
Very similar carving to a Heinselman tall case clock in York Bank & Trust Co., York, PA.
Usage
White Horse Tavern, Jonestown
Credit
Gift of Herbert B. Weaver in memory of father Isaac Hoover Weaver (1864-1920), Heritage Center Collection
