Nathan Howell
Tall Clock

Tall Clock

Public Domain

Tall Clock
HorologerAmerican, 1740/41–1784, active c. 1762–1784
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Tall Clock
  • Eight-day Clock
Datec. 1762–1784
Made inNew Haven, Connecticut, United States
MediumBlack cherry; eastern white pine and yellow-poplar
Dimensions91 1/2 × 20 × 11 1/4 in. (232.4 × 50.8 × 28.6 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.60.48
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Massachusetts Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Nathan Howell is typical of most American clockmakers who, once they had completed a movement, left the matter of its housing to their client. Today five of Howell’s clocks are recorded and, not surprisingly, they are installed in a variety of cases. That of the Bayou Bend example has a distinctive boxed and scrolled pediment, probably patterned after an imported English model.

Related examples: Two unpublished clocks belong to the New Haven Colony Historical Society, one housed in a case that is clearly by the same cabinet shop that made the Bayou Bend case. Other examples include Antiques 93 (June 1968), p. 696; Maine Antique Digest, September 1986, p. 22-c. The maker of the Bayou Bend case also constructed one for an Isaac Doolittle, Sr., movement now in a private collection.

Book excerpt: Warren, David B., Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


ProvenanceJack Friedman, by October 6, 1953; [Ginsburg & Levy, New York, October 6, 1953–May 24, 1960]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1960; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Exhibition History
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Tall Clock
Unknown American
Tall Clock
c. 1765–1785
Mahogany; chestnut, white oak, black cherry, eastern white pine, southern yellow pine, and cherry
B.59.83
Desk
Unknown American
Desk
c. 1700–1730
Black walnut, undetermined burl veneer, and eastern white pine; eastern white pine, black walnut, yellow-poplar, cherry, Cuban oyster wood (Gymnanthes lucida), and chestnut
B.69.42
Sideboard
Unknown American
Sideboard
c. 1785–1815
Mahogany and unidentified inlay; yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, and black cherry
B.69.199
Desk and Bookcase
Unknown American
Desk and Bookcase
c. 1745–1780
Mahogany; mahogany, eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, and black cherry
B.69.363
High Chest of Drawers
Unknown American
High Chest of Drawers
c. 1750–1780
Black-mangrove; black cherry, Atlantic white cedar, black walnut, yelow-poplar, and eastern white pine
B.69.64
Card Table
Unknown American
Card Table
c. 1820–1825
Mahogany, mahogany veneer, rosewood, and ebony; yellow-poplar, cherry, eastern white pine, and brass
B.68.32
Side Chair
Unknown American
Side Chair
c. 1750–1775
Mahogany and beech; cherry, eastern white pine, and yellow-poplar
B.69.33
Sofa Table
Unknown American
Sofa Table
c. 1815–1825
Mahogany, mahogany veneer; eastern white pine, yellow poplar, cherry, and mahogany
B.71.106
Worktable
Unknown American
Worktable
c. 1810–1820
Mahogany and mahogany veneer; yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, cherry, and original brass casters
B.69.391
scan from file photograph
Unknown American
Dressing Table
c. 1760–1800
Black walnut; red gum, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, southern yellow pine, and eastern white pine
B.69.527
scan from file photograph
Unknown American
Desk-on-Frame
c. 1730–1800
Black walnut; yellow-poplar, red oak, Atlantic white cedar, chestnut, eastern white pine, and black walnut
B.61.82
Square Piano
Gibson & Davis
Square Piano
c. 1810–1815
Painted and gilded mahogany, mahogany veneer, satinwood, soft maple, and holly; yellow-poplar, holly, beech, basswood, cherry, soft maple, eastern white pine, hemlock, mahogany, and ash
B.57.4