English Bracket Clock, Beauvais London

Movement
English table clock with VII inch gold-plated brass dial. The silver-plated chapter signed on the bottom: ‘Beauvais London’. Within the chapter ring on a matted plate is a recess for a false pendulum. The hands of blued steel, the two winding holes with twisted decorative rings and a calendar aperture above the VI. Chapter ring surrounded by four gilt corner pieces with cherub spandrels. The seven day spring-driven double-fusee brass movement consists of going and striking trains. The going train has verge escapement with short pendulum and knife-edge suspension. On the right, a pull repeater to release the strike and/ or quarter strike trains. The engraved back plate signed in a cartouche: ‘Paul Beauvais London’.

Case
Simple rectangular case with an oak frame veneered with ebony. The case rests on a flared and profiled plinth supported by four flattened gilt brass feet. On both sides of the door has a key plate shaped as an ornamented cartouche; only the left key plate features a lock behind it. There is also a profiled plinth at the top of the door. The clock is topped by an openwork gilt copper sarcophagus-shaped hood, the so-called basket top. At the corners of the profiled plinth are four gilded bronze pinnacles. The case is surmounted by a handle on basket top for carrying.

Paul Beauvais
Little is known about the clockmaker Paul Beauvais. He worked in Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields until 1730. Paul was presumably a son of the Huguenot Simon Beauvais (? -1730).