A Federal era Block & Shell tall case clock most likely made in Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1786. This clock is not signed but attributed to Seril Dodge. SS-138.
A significant piece of history, this Rhode Island tall case clock is a testament to the exceptional craftsmanship of the eighteenth century. The distinctive case, featuring two hand-carved shells, is a celebration of American furniture design. The incorporation of this coveted decoration and the proficiency of skilled execution suggest a highly talented cabinetmaker working in Providence, connecting us to the past.
This impressive cherry case retains an older finish that has been hand-polished. The nut brown color is excellent. The secondary wood used in the case structure is chestnut. This case stands on four ogee-bracket-formed feet. These are applied to the molding at the bottom of the base. The base construction is interesting. The front corners are canted. This decorative detail significantly increases the amount of work the cabinetmaker has to spend on constructing this section. The forty-five-degree angle creates fitting problems with the moldings at the top and the bottom of the base. At the bottom, a lamb's tongue molding is required to return the corner to a ninety-degree angle. This is the angle of the base molding. The top of this canted detail requires a change in the shape of the waist molding. The more common tall clock molding often used requires only two pieces of wood fitted at a ninety-degree angle. This canted design requires an additional section of molding to create the corner. They are joined together at forty-five-degree angles to follow the shape of the base. Please note that this base-to-waist molding is also complex in its design, as it features an ogee form as opposed to the more common cove version—the front of the base panel features framed construction. The central panel is applied to the frame. This decorative panel features a molded edge and a block and shell molding detail. Very few Rhode Island cases feature a carved shell in the base section. The convex scallop shell has been expertly carved by hand. The lobes are sharply defined, with distinct convex and concave shapes. The inner ends of the serpentine bottom edges of the shell terminate in closed volutes. These volutes flank a horizontal bar and support a semicircle that encloses seven separate carved petals. This is a highly developed design, repeated on a smaller scale in the design of the blocked pendulum waist door. The waist section centers a tombstone access door. It is assembled from rails, and the stiles are tenoned together. The block and shell details are then applied to the frame. The corners of the waist are fitted with fluted quarter columns. These terminate at both ends in turned wooden capitals. The bonnet or hood features a nicely shaped, molded swan's neck pediment. The moldings terminate in large carved rosettes. The carving has a floral theme. The arches also center a long and fluted keystone that forms the central finial plinth. Above the moldings, at the outer corners of the hood, are additional fluted and capped plinths. All three plinths support a hand-carved wooden finial that features a fluted urn and a twisted flame spire. This is a traditional form for the region. Free-standing fluted columns flank the arched, glazed door. The front two columns are mounted into brass capitals and bases. The two colonnettes mounted at the back of the bonnet are split into half columns and are secured in place with tenons.
This thirteen-inch painted iron dial was manufactured and painted in England. The raised gesso work is highlighted in gilt paint. The four spandrel areas are decorated with colorful floral and fruit patterns. Strawberries are featured in the two upper corners. In the lunette is a moon phase or lunar calendar display. This mechanical almanac is thought to have been a special order function. It would have been a valuable addition. Farmers would use this calendar display to anticipate the nights with the most available moonlight. This would aid them in scheduling their planting, tilling of the fields, and harvesting. Knowing the moon's age would benefit sailors and merchants, as well as its effects on the tides. Many religious groups had an almost superstitious litany of rituals best performed in accordance with lunar events. Another use would be scheduling travel by moonlight at night. A full moon often provides ample light to do so. The lunar month represents an inconvenient interval of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds. A clock's lunar calendar is set at 29.5 days from new moon to new moon, a complete cycle. This would require a 9-hour setback at the end of a single year. The time is displayed on the time ring and is indicated by the two hand-filled steel hands. One should notice the addition of a long, counter-weighted brass sweep second hand, also fitted to the center arbor. This will rotate around the dial once per minute. Very few New England-made clocks are equipped with this feature. One such clock is pictured on pages 290-291 in Frank L. Hohmann's book, Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks (New York, 2009). The seconds indications on the dial also serve as the minutes. This ring is graduated with dots positioned between the Arabic five-minute markers and the large Roman-style hour numerals. Another unusual feature is the display of the day of the week. This is conveniently located in the traditional location of a subsidiary seconds dial. The calendar date is displayed in the conventional location.
This fine movement is constructed in brass and is of good quality. Four, cigar-shaped pillars support the two large, rectangular brass plates. Seril Doge was the only clockmaker working in Rhode Island who was trained by Thomas Harland. The shape of these posts is a clue as to the Maker of this movement. Both plates have a half-round cutout on the bottom. Hardened steel shafts support the polished steel pinions and brass gearing. The winding drums are grooved. The escapement is designed as a deadbeat, and because the dial displays the seconds with a sweep hand, the escape wheel is positioned lower in the train. The movement is weight-driven and designed to run for eight days on a full wind. It is a two-train or a time and strike design having a rack and snail striking system. As a result, it will strike each hour on the hour on a cast-iron bell that is mounted above the movement.
This import and formal clock was made circa 1785. It stands approximately 94 inches tall to the top of the center finial. It is 23 inches wide and 11 inches deep.
Inventory number SS-138.
Seril Dodge was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, on August 19, 1759. His parents were Nehemiah Dodge (1733?-1796? and Lois (Paine) Dodge (1737? - ?) He is thought to have trained with Thomas Harland in Norwich, CT. His movement designs are certainly inspired by the Harland school, featuring distinctive, cigar-shaped pillars that support the two brass plates. On March 4, 1783, Seril Married Anna Williams of Pomfret. By 1784, he had removed to Providence and was working as a silversmith and clockmaker. In August of the same year, he advertised in the Providence Gazette that he was a clock and watchmaker, and his shop was located north of the Baptist Meeting House. Seril became the foremost clockmaker and silversmith in late eighteenth-century Providence. Dodge is also credited with being the city's first jeweler, and he likely executed the engraving on his silvered brass dials. Including meandering vines, scrolls, floral devices, stylized serpents (or birds), and columns, the vocabulary of motifs seen on this clock is also present in part or wholly on four of the other dials bearing his name. He purchased land from fellow Quaker and renowned merchant Moses Brown on Angell's Lane (now Thomas Street) and subsequently built two houses on the street, both of which stand today. In 1799, Dodge left Providence for his hometown of Pomfret, where he died on April 2, 1802.
Several clocks are known with dials signed by Seril Dodge. An engraved brass dial shelf-clock is in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society. A brass dial tall case clock was sold at Sotheby's in New York. The sale, Important American Furniture from the Collection of the Late Thomas Mellon and Betty Evans, June 19, 1998. This clock was lot 2022 and was purchased by Israel Sack, Inc. It is pictured in American Antiques from Israel Sack, vol. VI, p. 1615, P4706. A composite brass dial example was sold publicly in May of 2019 at Americana Auctions in Rehoboth, MA. R. Jorgensen Antiques advertised a clock with a Massachusetts-style case in www.antiquesandfineart.com. An engraved dial example is pictured on pages 290-291 in Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks (New York, 2009), written by Frank L. Hohmann III. A one-painted-dial tall clock in a carved shell case, offered by Delaney Antique Clocks, is attributed to him.
