John WRIGHT (17th–18th centuries), member of the Clockmakers - Lot 446

John WRIGHT (17th–18th centuries), member of the Clockmakers’ Company—active around 1700. A “bracket clock” with a complication mechanism. The ring-shaped pewter dial is engraved and nielloed, featuring Roman numerals for the hours alternating with fleurs-de-lis, a railway-track minute scale, and Arabic numerals for the minutes. A date display system showing the days in Arabic numerals, in full text, and their allegorical representations—finely engraved in intaglio—within three rotating pewter cartouches. The dial is signed by the clockmaker “John WRIGHT” on a cartouche and is located in London. Exceptional striking mechanism with eight bells and eight hammers, featuring on-demand striking. The bronze and brass case back is finely chiseled witharabesques and foliage interlacing, and the movement’s back plate is engraved with an exceptional design reworked in intaglio, featuring richly leafed foliage and an antique-style bust surrounded by two eagles. The architecturally shaped case is glazed on all sides and made of molded, carved, and openwork ebony, with spandrels decorated with red fabric imitating red tortoiseshell. The top is crowned with four pine cones and a handle. England, circa 1720. Height: 48 cm Width: 26.5 cm Depth: 18 cm Our planetarium clock (in the traditional sense of a system associating the days of the week with the seven celestial bodies or planetary deities) displays, respectively: Monday — Moon: goddess of the night and cycles. Tuesday — Mars: god of war and strength. Wednesday — Mercury: god of commerce and messengers. Thursday — Jupiter: king of the gods, lord of the sky and lightning. Friday — Venus: goddess of love and beauty. Saturday — Saturn: god of time and agriculture. Sunday — Sun: personification of the sun, symbol of light and power. Note: John Wright was a London clockmaker active in the early 18th century; he was likely admitted to the Clockmakers’ Company around 1700 and was mentioned again in 1714. He belonged to the generation that carried on the tradition of excellence in London clockmaking following Tompion, Quare, and Windmills. His name, inscribed on the dial of our pendulum clock around 1720, attests to the high quality of his work, characteristic of the golden age of English clockmaking.