At Long Last, a Washington Clock

Among the most iconic and desired objects for serious collectors of American antique furniture and related decorative arts are gilt bronze clocks memorializing George Washington, made in France in the first decades of the nineteenth century.  The clocks' cases were fabricated in the workshop of Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (1743-1819), a bronzier whose career spanned the Bourbons and later regimes, with works supplied by various clockmakers, also French.  Examples of these clocks are found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the White House, and the diplomatic reception rooms at the Department of State.  They are also found in the collections at Winterthur, Yale University, and Homewood House, among other places.

Gilt bronze Washington clock with eagle motif, ca. 1815-1820
Case by Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (France)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

George Washington's legacy as the hero of the Revolution and this nation's first president acquired epic status after his death in 1799 and prompted the production of an enormous quantity of objects memorializing him.  There was a veritable explosion of china, silver, jewelry, and textiles produced in this country commemorating his life and achievements, and also in England and France, where enterprising manufacturers churned out objects for export to America.  At the very pinnacle of these commemorative objects, known as "Washingtonia," stand the elegant gilt bronze clocks made in France.  Relatively few of them were produced, and the ones that were made were among the most expensive Washington memorial objects made at the time, affordable only by the very well-to-do. 

Washington clock on mantle at Homewood House
Baltimore, Maryland
Image courtesy of The Magazine Antiques

Not all of the known Washington clocks are in museums or on display in public collections.  There are examples in private collections, too, and in the homes of people fortunate to have inherited them.  One such person appeared on Antiques Roadshow ten years ago carrying a Washington clock that had been passed down to him through the generations, and was astonished to learn of its importance and value.

General George Washington at the Battle of Trenton
Painted by John Trumbull in 1792
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

The figure of Washington that appears on the clocks is generally believed to have been modeled after the pose that appears in John Trumbull's full-length portrait of Washington at the revolutionary war's Battle of Trenton.  Painted in 1792, it has been in the collection of Yale University since the early nineteenth century.

The Trumbull Gallery at Yale University (demolished 1901)
Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut

Not surprisingly, Dubuc's Washington clocks are very valuable, and they are very costly when they come on the market.  Not only are they rare, but since many of the known ones are already in museums or collections, they command stratospheric prices when they become available.  Ones that are in a compromised condition--either missing elements or where the gilding has worn off--start in the mid-five figures, and ones that are in pristine condition have sold well into the six figures.

The Green Room at the White House in 1904
President Theodore Roosevelt administration
Image courtesy of the White House Association

The Washington clock in the collection of the White House has sat on the fireplace mantle in the Green Room since the room was redesigned by McKim, Mead and White for President Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the last century.  It can be seen sitting on the same mantle over one hundred years later:

The Green Room at the White House in 2008
Image courtesy of Architectural Digest

I must admit I rather prefer the way the Green Room looked under Teddy Roosevelt to how it has appeared under the last several administrations.  I think the public or state rooms at the White House have come to look rather ossified in recent years, if not almost dead.  But that's a subject of a different post than this one, I suppose.

Gilt bronze Washington clock with All-Seeing Eye motif, ca. 1810
Case by Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (France)
Image courtesy of Jonathan Snellenburg Antiques, Ltd.

Getting back to the subject at hand . . .


There are several variations to the Washington clock known today.  They come in two sizes: one approximately fifteen inches tall and another around twenty inches.  The decorations, or elements, on the clocks vary, too.  Some of them include eagles on top of the clock, and others show the All-Seeing Eye motif found in the Great Seal of the United States.  All of the Dubuc clocks include the standing figure of Washington.

General George Washington at the Battle of Trenton
Engraved by Thomas Cheeseman (England) in 1795
After the painting by John Trumbull
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

It is likely that the figure of Washington used as the basis for the one on the Washington clocks was taken from an engraving of Trumbull's painting, rather than the painting itself.  The engraving was widely circulated at the end of the eighteenth century, when it was struck, and would have been available in France to use as the basis for the figure of Washington standing on the clock's base.

Gilt bronze Washington clock, elaborate format, ca. 1815
Case by Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (France)
Image courtesy of Israel Sack, Inc.

An even more elaborate version of the Washington clock, one that includes a mounted globe along with other elements, once passed through the hands of Israel Sack, Inc., one of the greatest and most legendary dealers of Americana in the twentieth century.  I do not know of its current whereabouts.


Which brings me to why I'm writing this essay . . .


It should come as no surprise that Reggie has wanted to own a Washington clock since he first remembers seeing one.  But such is the stuff of fantasy, for even though Reggie is comfortable, he is not rich, and it would be lunatic madness for him to attempt to buy such a clock were he to find one available for sale or at auction.  That is, unless he won the lottery, which--despite occasionally buying tickets for it--he has not done so, yet.

Reggie's gilt bronze Washington clock

But just the other day fate smiled upon Reggie, and he came across a diminutive, related version of Dubuc's Washington clock at an antiques show at the Park Avenue Armory, in New York City, that he was able to buy for but a tiny fraction of what one of Monsieur Dubuc's clocks goes for.  And that's because Reggie's clock has some--well, a lot--of condition and attribution issues.

The bust of Washington that sits on top of Reggie's clock

For one thing, it is clearly not of the same series as the famous Washington clocks.  It is much smaller, measuring only seven and a half inches high; it only has a bust of Washington upon it and not the full figure modeled after Trumbull's portrait; it has relatively little ornament applied to the clock's case; and it is missing an important decorative element.  On top of that, the clock's works were made in England, and not in France.  Oh, and it doesn't work, either.

A later "make-do" finial, where the missing element was once attached

But Reggie nonetheless feels rather fortunate to have found it, and to have it now in his collection at Darlington House.

The back of the clock, showing the clock works

I've been able to date the clock's mechanism, since it is signed, and I was able to find out a bit about who the clockmaker was by doing some basic Internet sleuthing.  Richard Durrant (1786-1866) was an English clockmaker, silversmith, jeweler, and optometrist with a shop in Beccles, England, about 100 miles northeast of London.  He was active 1815-1855.

The clock's works, showing Durrant's mark

Based on that, it is not too much of a stretch to posit that Reggie's clock was made around the same time as when Dubuc's clocks were made, or shortly thereafter, to capitalize on the craze for Washington memorabilia in this country.  But there is also part of Reggie that suspects the case could have been made later, in the 1880s or 1890s during the post-Centennial colonial revival period, and that an earlier clock mechanism might have been put into it in order to make it appear to be older than it really is.

A Washington memorial bandana, ca. 1799
Image courtesy of Antiques Roadshow

And then there is the issue of the missing element.  I suspect it could have been an eagle, an urn, an obelisk, a weeping willow, or a recumbent figure in mourning, similar to ones seen in memorial pictures that were popular in the early nineteenth century.

Memorial picture (Folwell School), 1803
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Even with the condition issues that Reggie is well aware of, he is quite happy to have his little Washington clock.  He looks forward to hunting down an appropriate decorative element to add to the case, and he will be sure to share an image of his clock when it is happily united with said element, once he has had the great good fortune to find it.

The back of the bust's head, showing Washington's queue wig

Tell me, have you ever seen a version of Reggie's Washington clock?  What do you think the missing decorative element was?


Unless noted, all photographs by Boy Fenwick