Daniel Burnap of Coventry, Connecticut. A tall case clock. 219058.
This important cherry case tall clock features an engraved brass dial that is signed by the clockmaker Daniel Burnap of Coventry, Connecticut. Interestingly, this dial features a lunar calendar which is a seldom seem feature on clocks by this Maker.
Daniel Burnap's clock dials are of unusually fine workmanship. He was not only a clockmaker , but also a very skilled engraver. This dial is a fine representation of his work. The dial is made from a brass sheet. The decorations are engraved into the front surface. These designs are then filled with shellac or wax. Originally the surface would have been treated with a silver wash. The silver compound would adhere to the brass thus creating a stark contrast between the silver and the dark black filler inside the engraved decoration. Burnap was a master of this technique. Please note how wonderfully decorated the four spandrel areas are presented. The time ring is traditionally formatted. A closed minute ring separates the Roman style hour numerals from the Arabic five minute markers. A subsidiary seconds dial is inset and positioned below the hour numeral twelve. The calendar date of the month is displayed in the large aperture above the hour VI. The unusually shaped calendar window is a traditional form for this Maker. This is positioned above the hour numeral six. Across the middle of this dial is the clockmaker's signature. It simply reads in script, "Burnap -Coventry." In the arch of this dial, one will find a moon phase mechanism or lunar calendar. Very few engraved brass dials are fitted with this simple complication. The lunar calendar or moon phase mechanism is a mechanical almanac. This feature was most likely made on special order due to the extra work involved in producing it. This display would have been valuable to a number of occupations during the colonial era. Farmers were known to track the moon phase so they could anticipate the days that offered the most available moonlight. A bright night would be more beneficial to them in scheduling their tilling and harvesting of their fields. Sailors and merchants track the lunar phases in oder to know when the high tide would allow their ships to sail easily from port or when the fishing might be best. Numerous religious groups had an almost superstitious litany of rituals that were best performed in accordance with lunar events. The actual lunar month represents an inconvenient interval of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.8 seconds. A tall clocks lunar calendar is set constant at 29.5 days which represents a full cycle. As a result, a 9 hour setback is required at the end of a single year in order to keep the lunar display current.
This fine movement is constructed in brass and is good quality. Four turned pillars support the two brass plates. The pillars are a distinctive form an commonly found in this cigar-shape in other works by this clockmaker. Hardened steel shafts support the polished steel pinions and brass gearing. The winding drums are grooved. The escapement is designed as a recoil format. The movement is weight driven and designed to run 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. This is done on a cast iron bell which is mounted above the movement.
The cherry case retains an older finish. This case stands on a cut-out bracket base. The feet are a simple form. The cut-out is designed with a simple return or spur and a subtly shaped apron. The waist section is fitted with a rectangular shaped door that is trimmed with a molded edge. Through this door one can access the two drive weight and the brass faced pendulum bob. Fluted quarter columns that terminate in brass quarter capitals are inset into the front corners of the waist. The fluted bonnet columns visually support the arch of the bonnet. They are mounted in brass capitals. A pierced and open fret work pattern is mounted above the arch molding. This pattern is unusual in that it is a combination of a pieced and Whale's tails design. Three fluted finial plinths help secure the pattern to the top of the case. Each plinth support a brass finial. The bonnet door is an arched form and fitted with glass. It opens to access the engraved brass dial.
This clock was made circa 1785 and stands 88.5 inches (7 feet 4.5 inches) tall to the top of the center finial. It is 20 inches wide and 11 inches deep measured at the hood molding.
219058.
Daniel Burnap. Clockmaker, silversmith, engraver, and instrumentmaker of East Windsor, Andover, and Coventry, Connecticut.
Daniel Burnap was born in Coventry (now Andover), Connecticut, on November 1, 1759. His parents were Captain Abraham and Susan (Wright) Burnap. His father, a Justice of the Peace, landowner, and farmer, was originally from Norwich and had moved to Coventry before Daniel was born. One can find Daniel Burnap listed in numerous clock reference materials as an apprentice of Thomas Harland. Harland was a very talented English-born clockmaker who settled in the village of Norwich in 1773. It is now thought that Burnap arrived at Harland's door on September 8, 1779, and stayed in Norwich until July 7, 1880. Burnap must have had a fair amount of clock training before staying with Harland. The relatively short period of time Burnap stayed in Harland, would not have been long enough to learn the complete art of clockmaking. We speculate that Burnap may have learned the skills of engraving, silversmithing, and musical tall clock manufacturing at Harland's shop. The mystery remains. It is not known who provided the groundwork of knowledge to Burnap before he trained with Harland.
Burnap settled in the town of East Windsor sometime before 1780 and was working as a journeyman for John Fairchild. By 1786, he had built the homestead located a few rods north of Bissell's Tavern. Soon, Burnap was active in making clocks and training apprentices of his own.
Burnap's most well-known apprentice is Eli Terry, who became Connecticut's most famous clockmaker. Terry was a pioneer in the development of mass-production techniques in this country and is credited with being the first person in America to manufacture goods, or more specifically clocks, that had interchangeable parts. Burmap also trained Daniel Kellogg, Harvey Sadd, Abel Bliss, Lewis Curtis, Nathaniel Olmsted, Levi Pitkin, Flavel Bingham, Ela Burnap, Thomas Lyman, and Daniel Porter. Several of these gentlemen worked many years in the clock trades. Interestingly, we owned a Burnap tall clock movement engraved with Daniel Porter's name on the front plate. The presence of this engraving suggests that Porter signed the works of this clock while working for Burnap as an apprentice. We have also owned a signed Burnap dial that has evidence of Porter practicing his engraving skills on the back.
Daniel Burnap's East Windsor tall clock cases are somewhat similar in design. Many of these cases were supplied by the East Windsor cabinetmaker Simeon Loomis.
In 1782, Burnap married Deliverance Kingsbury. They did not have any children. It is not currently known when Burnap first worked in Coventry. Three tall clocks are known to us signed with Coventry as a place location. Interestingly, one is prominently dated on the dial 1789. In 1795, Daniel began to purchase land in his hometown of Coventry. While Daniel's land/house was in the town of Coventry, it was also within the borders of the Andover Ecclesiastical Society, which existed as early as 1747 and included parts of Coventry, Hebron, and Lebanon. When Andover became a town in 1848, it simply took the boundaries as had been defined the Society. We are aware of one clock signed Andover. This clock is currently in the Nathaniel Hale Homestead Museum in Coventry, CT. In 1798, Burnap built a sawmill there, and this became a major source of his income. It appears that he maintained his East Windsor shop for a time while living 20 miles away in Coventry. He did this until 1805 when he closed the East Windsor shop.
Daniel Burnap was an active and respected citizen. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace and held court in a spacious room on the first floor of this house. In his later years, Burnap gave up his shop and fitted up a room in the attic of the house where he could keep busy with the less arduous kinds of work such as engraving and repairing watches. He died in 1838 at the age of seventy-eight, a prosperous and respected citizen.
