Sir Christopher Wren Sold at Auction Prices

WREN CHRISTOPHER: (1632-1723) English Architect. An attractive D.S., Chr. Wren,

WREN CHRISTOPHER: (1632-1723) English Architect. An attractive D.S., Chr. Wren, (twice), two pages, large folio, Chelsea, 15th October & 12th November 1700. The neatly and boldly penned document is a page (numbered 161 and 162 at the head of each side) removed from the official ledger of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea and is an 'Abstract of the Expense of Provisions' for the two months in which Wren, in his capacity as a Commissioner of the hospital, and two other commissioners, Viscount Ranelagh (Paymaster of the Forces) and Sir Stephen Fox (Commissioner of the Treasury) authorise Ralph Cooke, Treasurer of the hospital, to pay various sums to listed individuals in payment for their provisions, the total payable for September being £510.14s.6¾d and for October £459.14s.1¾d. Each of the tradespeople have individually signed the document as confirmation of having been paid, and include Charles Hudson, butcher (£159.12s.8d), Thomas Marston, baker (£63.19s.8d), John England, brewer (£72.18s.11d), Robert Madock, cheesemonger (£80.10s.7¼d), John Gill, whitster (£74.14s.3½d; a whitster supplying bleach for whitening clothes), Elizabeth Hastings, tallow-chandler (£6.14s.9¼d; a tallow-chandler supplying candles made from animal fats), Barthalina Fells, lamps (£6.16s.9d) and Henry Powell, steward (£45.6s.10d). Individually signed by Wren, Ranelagh and Fox to either side of the document. An interesting and very handsome document. Some extremely light, very minor age wear to the extreme edges, not affecting the text or signature, VG Richard Jones (1641-1712) 1st Earl of Ranelagh. Irish Peer & Politician. Paymaster of the Forces 1685-1702. Ranelagh was expelled from the House of Commons in 1703 when discrepancies were found in his accounts as Paymaster, and he was discovered to have appropriated more than £900,000 of public funds. Sir Stephen Fox (1627-1716) English Politician. Paymaster of the Forces 1661-76 and 1679-80. Fox founded the Royal Hospital Chelsea, from where the present document originates, to which he contributed £13,000. Unlike some other statesman of his day, Fox grew rich in the service of the nation without being suspected of corruption or forfeiting the esteem of his contemporaries. The Royal Hospital at Chelsea was founded by King Charles II in 1682 as a retreat for veterans and opened its doors to the Chelsea Pensioners a decade later (mismanagement by Ranelagh, a signatory to the present document had caused the delay). Wren was responsible for designing the hospital and the hospital's chapel is a fine and rare example of the architect's pure ecclesiastical work.

English School (18th Century) Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), holding plans for St Paul's Cathedral under his arm and...

English School (18th Century) Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), holding plans for St Paul's Cathedral under his arm and holding a pair of calipers in a painted black and gold border, oil on canvas, unframed h:39 w:39 cm Provenance: From a Cambridgeshire country house.

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Medallion - Great Britain - Mid-nineteenth century large copper electrotype medal, Sir Christopher Wren, 1632 - 1723, bust left of Sir Christopher Wren, west front of St. Paul's Cathedral on reverse, with dark patination

AUTOGRAPHS: WREN CHRISTOPHER: (1632-1723) English

AUTOGRAPHS: WREN CHRISTOPHER: (1632-1723) English Architect. D.S., Chr. Wren, one page, small folio, n.p. (London?), 24th October 1693. The partially printed document, completed in manuscript, is a bill of payment for the sum of £50, being six months interest on monies advanced by 'An Act for Granting to Their Majesties, a Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage, and other Sums of Money payable upon Merchandizes Exported and Imported'. Boldly signed by Wren in the right margin. Rare. Some light age wear and minor staining to the horizontal central fold, not affecting Wren's signature. An attractive signed document. About VG The document most probably relates to the expenditure on Wren's work on the façade of Hampton Court Palace, 1689-94.

ARCHITECTURE BLOMFIELD (REGINALD) A History of French Architecture, 4 vol.

BLOMFIELD (REGINALD) A History of French Architecture, 4 vol., G. Bell, 1911--JACKSON (THOMAS) The Renaissance of Roman Architecture, 3 vol., publisher's half vellum gilt, spines worn, Cambridge University Press, 1921-1923--JOURDAIN (M.) English Interiors in Smaller Houses... 1660-1830, Batsford, [1923]--RICHARDS (RAYMOND) Old Cheshire Churches, Batsford, 1947--Sir Christopher Wren A.D. 1632-1723, rubbed, Hodder & Stoughton, 1923, 4to--SPIERS (R. PHENE) The Orders of Architecture Greek Roman and Italian, folio, Batsford, 1902, plates, publisher's cloth unless otherwise stated; and approximately 38 others, mostly architecture (quantity)

WREN, Sir Christopher (1632-1723). Manuscript signed ('Chr. Wren', in 47 places), his accounts as Surveyor of the King's Works for the year 1682-3, recording works at the royal residences of Whitehall, St James's, Westminster, Denmark House,

WREN, Sir Christopher (1632-1723). Manuscript signed ('Chr. Wren', in 47 places), his accounts as Surveyor of the King's Works for the year 1682-3, recording works at the royal residences of Whitehall, St James's, Westminster, Denmark House, Hampton Court, Greenwich, Newmarket, Winchester Castle and Audley End, as well as 'publick paving', the monthly accounts (occasionally two or three months are consolidated) in a single neat secretarial hand, each with a title page and each signed by Wren, the Master Mason John Oliver, the Master Carpenter Matthew Banckes and in many cases also by either Leonard Gammon, Thomas Rotherham or Henry Winstanley as Clerks of the Works, occasionally annotated 'drawn' or 'entered', 110 leaves, folio (373 x 250mm), pages individually mounted on guards, 19th-century half-leather boards. Wren's accounts give a very considerable level of detail for the King's Works, describing for each month the precise tasks undertaken by each group of craftsmen, as well as other details such as payments for provisions. Much the most substantial works described are those for Whitehall, reflecting the complexity and constant state of flux of the principal royal residence in a giddying series of adjustments to chimneys, passages, cupboards, walls, gutters and roofs. At most of the other palaces the works consist of nothing more than minor repairs or shoring up: in the case of the new Greenwich Palace, where the King's grandiose project of 1661 had ground to a halt by 1672, the works represent the last, fruitless effort to make something habitable out of the incomplete buildings. The accounts also record the first stage of the new (and no less ill-fated) grand project that was to occupy the last years of Charles's reign, at Winchester Palace. A humbler but more serviceable abode was the hunting seat at Newmarket to which minor alterations are made, including, appealingly, 'making a large box for a Bitch to lye in the King's Bedchamber'. Wren was Surveyor of the King's Works for just under 50 years, from 1669 until 1718 (when he was 85) -- the longest surveyorship in the history of the Office of Works.

Reference Books - Architecture

Including; Edwin (Third Earl of Dunraven): Notes on Irish Architecture. 2 vols., 1875 and 1877, green cloth gilt; Swarbrick (J.): Robert Adam And His Brothers. 1915; R.I.B.A. Sir Christopher Wren AD 1632-1723. 1923; and others, (25)

THE KING'S WORKS

THE KING'S WORKS -- Sir Christopher WREN (1632-1723). Manuscript accounts of Wren as Surveyor of the King's Works, 1682-3, SIGNED 47 TIMES BY WREN, recording works at Whitehall, St James's, Westminster, Denmark House, Hampton Court, Greenwich, Newmarket, Winchester Castle and Audley End, as well as 'publick paving', the monthly accounts (occasionally two or three months are consolidated) in a single neat secretarial hand, each with a title page and each signed by Wren, the Master Mason John Oliver, the Master Carpenter Matthew Banckes and in many cases also by either Leonard Gammon, Thomas Rotherham or Henry Winstanley as Clerks of the Works, a few months annotated 'drawn' or 'entered' on title page, altogether 110 leaves, folio (373 x 250mm), some contemporary foliation in ink, later pencil foliation, occasional 18th-century pen trials (archival repairs to losses to upper left corner of ff.1-5, approx 120 x 50mm, and minor losses to lower right corners, some soiling to last page), the pages individually mounted on guards, 19th-century half-leather boards. CONTENTS: ff.1-36 Whitehall, October 1682-March 1682/3 ff.37-46 St James's, November 1682-March 1682/3 ff.47-50 Westminster, November 1682-March 1682/3 (lacking December) ff.51-58 Denmark House [i.e. Somerset House] 'Reparac[i]ons', October 1682-March 1682/3 ff.59-69 Hampton Court 'Reparac[i]ons', October 1682-March 1682/3 ff.70-75 Greenwich 'Reparac[i]ons', October 1682-March 1682/3 ff.76-83 Newmarket, May 1682-February 1682-3 (title page only for March present) ff.84-86 Allowances for the officers of the King's Works, November-December 1682 and March 1682/3 ff.87-97 Whitehall, 'the Kings new buildings', September 1682 and November-January 1682/3 ff.98-99 'Charges of publick paving done to the last of February 1682/3' ff.100-101 'Hampton Court Booke For worke done in the Tilt y[a]rd and ab[ou]t the Wall in the Monthes of May June July and August 1682' f.102 'Charges and Expences for surveying & measuring the Ground att Winchester Castle and prepareing for a New Building there by his Maj[es]ties Order October 1682' ff.103-110 Audley End, 'Charges in doing diverse needfull Workes and Reparc[i]ons there', September 1682-March 1682/3 (September-November and February-March in summary) Wren's accounts give a very considerable level of detail of the King's Works, describing for each month the precise tasks undertaken by each group of craftsmen -- at Whitehall for example there are a mason, carpenters, a bricklayer, joiners, plasterers, pavers, sawyers, 'Mazerscowrers', labourers and occasionally others -- as well as payments for provisions, in each case giving the name and (where applicable) the number of days worked by each craftsman. Much the most substantial works described are those for Whitehall, reflecting the complexity and constant state of flux of the principal royal residence in a giddying series of adjustments to chimneys, passages, cupboards, walls, gutters and roofs; for the 'new buildings' at Whitehall, treated in a separate set of accounts, the accounting is by task work rather than day work (an approach encouraged as more economical by the 1663 regulations for the Works). At most of the other palaces the works consist of nothing more than minor repairs or shoring up: in the case of the new Greenwich Palace, where the King's grandiose project of 1661 had ground to a halt by 1672, the works represent the last, fruitless effort to make something habitable out of the incomplete buildings, which were by now 'boarded up and fenced around, used increasingly as a storehouse' (H.M. Colvin, ed. The History of the King's Works, Vol. V (1976), p.151). The accounts also record the first stage of the new (and no less ill-fated) grand project that was to occupy the last years of Charles's reign: that of Winchester Palace, construction of which was to begin the following year to Wren's designs. A humbler, but more serviceable abode was the hunting seat at Newmarket to which minor alterations are made in the present account, including, appealingly, 'making a large box for a Bitch to lye in the King's Bedchamber'. Wren was Surveyor of the King's Works for just under 50 years, from 1669 until 1718 (when he was 85) -- the longest surveyorship in the history of the Office of Works, suggesting that he was no less accomplished as a courtier and administrator than as an architect. The new regulations drawn up in 1663 give a clear picture of the accounting process at the Office of Works: 'All four of the officers [Surveyor, Comptroller, Master Mason and Master Carpenter] were ... to meet once a month to pass the accounts submitted by the respective Clerks of the Works, who were to "bee at the Office by eight of the Clock in the morning, and deliver in their books fairely written to the Comptroller, with their bills and Check books also, and then attend below [until] occasion require them to be called". Upstairs the Clerk Ingrosser went slowly through the books, reading out the entries, while the Comptroller examined the corresponding bills to see that they tallied ... Once every six months the accumulated books were to be signed by all four officers for submission to the auditor and an abstract was to be made for transmission to the Treasury' (H.M. Colvin, op. cot., p.13). As was commonly the case during Charles II's reign, the accounts for 1682/3 were in fact prepared in a pair of duplicate sets: the present volume is listed in the National Archives list of Works records as Works 5/36.

WREN, Sir Christopher (1632-1723). Autograph letter signed ('Chr. Wren') to Henry Carrington

WREN, Sir Christopher (1632-1723). Autograph letter signed ('Chr. Wren') to Henry Carrington, Whitehall, 6 September 1705, one page, 4to, docketed by recipient below text ('12 sept. answred') and again twice on address leaf, integral address leaf, seal in red wax approx. 15mm diameter (loss to blank lower margin of both leaves, approx. 30 x 100mm, with archival repair), tipped onto an album leaf. On money and property: Wren writes on the subject of a small debt, and a property transaction -- 'I cannot understand what Sr Richard Newman meanes by not sealing the Lease; it was soe agreed at Mr Courtneys Chambers, & Mr Walters undertook for Sr Richard he should doe it when he came next to Town... who else hath influenced Sr Richard I know not', continuing with a defence of his own conduct, 'I intended sincerely, & am apt to thinke too well of the sincerity of others', and requesting two other articles of information. The letter closes with a reference to Wren's son, Christopher, 'My son preparing for a suddain Journy makes me answer your Letter to him'.

William Marlow (1740-1813)

View of Westminster from across the Thames; and View of St. Paul's and Blackfriars Bridge each signed 'W Marlow' (lower right) oil on canvas 281/4 x 361/2 in. (71.8 x 92.8 cm.) In Maratta frames a pair (2) PROVENANCE Lord Rossmore, Rossmore Park, Monaghan. EXHIBITION Dublin, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Exhibition of Paintings from Irish Collections, 20 May - 25 August 1957, nos. 88 and 93 Belfast, Belfast Museums and Art Gallery, Pictures from Ulster Homes, 10 May - 15 July 1961, no. 88 and 93 NOTES The first suggestions for a bridge at Westminster were made soon after the Restoration but were quashed by opposition from the City Corporation and the Thames watermen, who feared the loss of their livelihood. The growth of Westminster in the 18th century urgently increased the need for a bridge. Apart from taking a boat or using the horse ferry, anybody wanting to cross the bridge had to go round by Putney Bridge (which only opened in 1729), or use the overcrowded London Bridge. Finally, in 1738, the Swiss engineer Charles Labelye was appointed designer of the new bridge. The watermen were paid œ25,000 in compensation, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who owned the horse ferry, received œ21,025. After a temporary setback when one of the piers subsided in 1748, the bridge was finally opened to traffic in November 1750. Prominent in this view is Westminster Abbey which had been restored between 1698 amd 1723 when Sir Christopher Wren was Surveyor, and Hawksmoor's West Towers which had been completed in 1745. See lot 13 for details on Blackfriars Bridge. William Marlow was an apprentice of Samuel Scott and was greatly influenced by Canaletto who also painted views of Westminster Bridge, the most famous of which, Westminster Bridge from the North, on Lord Mayor's Day is in Yale Center for British Art. He specialised in Grand Tour views, panoramas of the gentry's country seats as well as river and London scenes. Marlow executed at least three versions of the above views. He exhibited two paintings of Blackfriars Bridge at the Society of Artists in 1774 and two further views of Blackfriars Bridge and Westminster at the Royal Academy in 1788. Versions of the pair are presently in the collection at Castle Howard and in the Guildhall Art Gallery, London (these latter are painted ovals and closely relate to the aquatints of the subjects published in 1777).

(Royal Institute of British Architects.) Sir Christopher Wren, A.D. 1632-1723. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1923. 4to, orig. blue cloth, gilt. 13 color plates, b/w plates & plans. 1 vol.

A PAIR OF ENGLISH SCULPTED STONE HERM BUSTS OF PHILOSOPHERS

Mid-19th century 28in. (71cm.) wide, approx., 48in. (122cm.) high To be removed at the purchaser's risk and expense Please note that the plinths are not included in this lot. PROVENANCE The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford University. LITERATURE Howard Colvin, Essays in English Architectural History, London, 1999 (pp. 99-123 and figs 96 and 97). NOTES These herm busts, copied from designs by Sir Christopher Wren (d. 1723), served for a century (1868-1972) as the guardian 'termains' for the theatrical 'Roman' assembly hall built by Wren in the 1660s for the University at Oxford, and named after Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1677). The original Sheldonian 'Philosophers', comprised a dozen busts, which together with gatepier Janus-heads, embellished the iron palisade screening the theatre's circular front on Broad Street. Introducing 'ancient Roman grandeur', they were designed in 1666 and inspired by Louis Le Vau's screen at Vaux-le-Vicomte, France. The heads, executed by the celebrated Oxford sculptor mason William Bird (Byrd) (b. 1624), derived in part from Wren's copy of J. J. Boissard's, Antiquitatum Romanorum, Frankfurt, 1597/8. Appropriate to the privileged enclosure of an ancient academy in which Latin was spoken, they depicted statesmen, philosophers etc., and included the historian Heraclitus and orator Isocrates. They featured in David Loggan's Oxonia Illustrata, 1675; while related termains of 'eminent Grecian and other ancient philosophers' were introduced in the 1680s at Bretby, Derbyshire. These Sheldonian heads, which replaced those by Bird in the 1860s, have also been popularly known as the Emperors: they were immortalised By Max Beerbohm in Zuleika Dobson, or an Oxford Romance, 'as they emerged side by side into the street, the Emperors exchanged strong sidelong glancs' ( Zuleika Dobson, or an Oxford Love Story, London 1911, p. 76).

English School, circa 1725

View of Westminster Abbey with figures in the foreground oil on canvas 40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm.) PROVENANCE: Jules Porges. with Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, 1960. Footnotes:On the left of the present picture is King Henry VII's Chapel which was completed in 1519 and was the burial site of many future Kings and Queens including King Henry VII, Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, King James I and King Charles II. Sir Christopher Wren was Surveyor of the Abbey from 1698 to 1723 and apart from undertaking restoration work he designed the West Towers, which were subsequently modified by Nicholas Hawksmoor and completed in 1745. The present picture is depicted before the addition of Hawksmoor's two towers. This picture of Westminster Abbey, viewed from the north, appears to derive from an undated engraving by Thomas Bowles of Westminster Abbey, which in turn derived from the view of Westminster Abbey in Sir William Dugdales's Monasticon. As in the previous lot the artist's portrayal of contemporary street life reveals many interesting figures such as a group of young scholars from Westminster School, a waterman in blue with the badge of his employer on his sleeve, men playing knuckle-bones and a gentleman in a sedan chair preceded by three footmen. A May Day procession of milkmaids enters the picture on on the left, including the unusual appearance of a man in May Day headdress, led by a fiddler.

English School, circa 1725

View of Westminster Abbey with figures in the foreground oil on canvas 40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm.) PROVENANCE Jules Porges. with Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, 1960. NOTES On the left of the present picture is King Henry VII's Chapel which was completed in 1519 and was the burial site of many future Kings and Queens including King Henry VII, Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, King James I and King Charles II. Sir Christopher Wren was Surveyor of the Abbey from 1698 to 1723 and apart from undertaking restoration work he designed the West Towers, which were subsequently modified by Nicholas Hawksmoor and completed in 1745. The present picture is depicted before the addition of Hawksmoor's two towers. This picture of Westminster Abbey, viewed from the north, appears to derive from an undated engraving by Thomas Bowles of Westminster Abbey, which in turn derived from the view of Westminster Abbey in Sir William Dugdales's Monasticon. As in the previous lot the artist's portrayal of contemporary street life reveals many interesting figures such as a group of young scholars from Westminster School, a waterman in blue with the badge of his employer on his sleeve, men playing knuckle-bones and a gentleman in a sedan chair preceded by three footmen. A May Day procession of milkmaids enters the picture on on the left, including the unusual appearance of a man in May Day headdress, led by a fiddler.

WILLIS, Thomas (1621-1675). Cerebri anatome: cui accessit nervorum descriptio et usus. London: Ja. Flesher for Jo. Martyn and Ja. Allestry, 1664.

4 o (205 x 152 mm). Engraved portrait of author tipped in on verso of imprimatur. 15 engraved plates (11 folding), unsigned, but drawn by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) and Richard Lower (1631-1691), and probably engraved by David Loggan (1635-1692). Contemporary calf gilt (rebacked). Provenance : Charles Cockburn (bookplate). FIRST EDITION. "The most complete and accurate account of the nervous system which had hitherto appeared, and the work that coined the term "neurology"" (GM). Willis, Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosphy at Oxford University, was dissatisfied with existing accounts of the brain, and so conducted brain dissections himself, with the aid of his students Christopher Wren, Richard Lower and Thomas Millington (an early recorded instance of collaborative scientific research). Garrison-Morton 1378; Grolier Medicine 32A (this copy exhibited); Heirs of Hippocrates 538; NLM/Krivatsy 13009; Waller 10315; Wing W-2824; Norman 2243.

A HIGHLY IMPORTANT CHARLES II KINGWOOD SMALL LONG-CASE CLOCK SAMUELL KNIBB LONDON FECIT The rising hood with architectural pediment and

ball finials supported on plain columns, the case with panelled sides and parquetry veneered door, on a plain plinth (with later skirting), the 8 1/2 inch square dial engraved with fruit and foliage to the corners enclosing a silver Roman chapter ring with "fleur de lys" half-hour marks, matted center and pierced steel hands, the movement with ten ringed, knopped and latched pillars, triple-divided front plate, verge escapement with short pendulum, striking the hours by means of count wheel (replaced) with a vertically pivoted hammer and with linked quarter hours (restorations to veneer)--"72 1/2 in. (184 cm.) high" PROVENANCE Possibly supplied to Charles II and thence by descent at Windsor Castle Reputedly given by George IV to Thomas Attwood Bodleian Library, Oxford University Frank Garrett, London and sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 16 February 1926, lot 8 The late Alfred H. Mulliken, Chicago, Illinois and New Canaan, Connecticut, sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 7 January 1933, lot 239 Mrs. William Allison Anderson, Princeton, New Jersey, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 10 February 1945, lot 183 LITERATURE R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, eds., "The Dictionary of English Furniture," vol. II, 1924, p. 101, fig. 9 R. Edwards, ed., "The Dictionary of English Furniture," rev. edn., vol. II, 1954, p. 84, fig. 12 R. A. Lee, "The Knibb Family," 1963, p. 13, pl. 3 C. Jagger, "Royal Clocks," 1983, pl. 34 Samuel Knibb (d. 1670) was the son of John Knibb, a yeoman of Claydon. In 1663, he was admitted to the London Clockmaker's Company first working at Westminster and subsequently Threadneadle Street. Joseph (d. 1711), his younger cousin and the most famous of the Knibb family clockmakers, most certainly served his apprenticeship under Samuel, and thereafter established himself in London as a leading clockmaker from 1670. Samuel Knibb was not a prodigious maker judging by the extant number of clocks by him. The few remaining clocks by Samuel have two things in common: their outstanding quality, and their compatability with the Fromanteel workshop. The latter is no surprise for the Fromanteels were the leading London clockmakers in every respect from innovation to design. There is no doubt that a good deal of inter-collaboration went on for this was a time of extraordinary horological innovation with the pendulum having just been invented in 1657. The present clock is unique in that it is the only recorded longcase by Samuel Knibb. The most extraordinary feature about the dial is the silver chapter ring that has been made using the same technique as the Fromanteel workshop. A circlet of base metal is faced with a circlet of silver and rivetted together. An illustrated example of this technique by Fromanteel showing the rivets may be found in P. G. Dawson, C. B. Drover and D. W. Parkes, "Early English Clocks," 1982, p. 83, pl. 103. The same process was used on an even earlier clock, also by Fromanteel, from the collection of Samuel Messer, sold Christie's London, 5 December 1991, lot 37. The movement is typical of the Fromanteel style and yet it has peculiar qualities exclusive to Knibb family clocks. The ten pillars may seem excessive, however, the use of latches and the triple-divided front plate enables the clockmaker to strip and re-assemble the movement more easily. It also simplifies the complexities of the three trains which in itself necessitate the use of ten pillars (instead of the more common five or six) to hold and secure such a large movement together. Quarter-striking clocks of this period were very rare and few survive to this day. Such was the inaccuracy of clocks up to this time that for a clock to strike the quarters was both unnecessary and misleading. Only the very best clockmaker would have attempted such a movement and the clock would most certainly have been made to order for a very special client. The simplicity of the case is typical of the period with architectural pediment, simple columns and straight-forward (albeit altered) plinth. The temple pediment supported on Doric columns corresponds to that on a clock case designed in the 1660s by Christopher Wren (d. 1723), Surveyor-General of King Charles II's Board of Architectural Works (S. Wren, "Memoirs of the Family of Wrens," 1750), and to that of a clock supplied by Ahasuerus Fromanteel to Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk (illustrated in L. Fabian, `Could it have been Wren?', "Antiquarian Horology," Winter 1977, figs. 11 and 12). The reputed royal provenance to this clock is a plausible one, albeit one that cannot be confirmed by existing documentation. Certainly, Joseph Knibb supplied clocks to the Royal family. He supplied a turret clock to King Charles II in 1677, and two long case clocks, later recorded in the inventories of George III's son, Frederick, Duke of York (d. 1827). The early 20th century label to the inside of the case door relates that it was removed from Windsor Castle having been given by George IV to his librarian, Mr. Attwood. Thomas Attwood (d. 1825) was a musician in the Royal Household, and until 1820, he held the post of `Page of the Presents' to the Prince of Wales (later George IV). As such, he would have received, in turn, a gift from the King who was known to have been updating his inventory at the time. Presumably, Attwood then presented the clock to the Bodleian Library. It then disappears until the 1926 sale. The reputed connection with the Royal family is strengthened by the known Knibb family commissions, the inventiveness and superb quality of the clockworks, the up-to-date design of the case and its elaborate veneers in exotic timbers. All these factors would lend support to a Royal commission by Charles II. See footnote * for this sale.