Daniel Burnap. Engraver and Clockmaker working in East Windsor, Connecticut. This is a cherry case tall clock featuring an engraved brass dial signed by one of Connecticut's premier clockmakers. BBB-11.
This is a very important example to the ongoing study of Daniel Burnap's clock business. This dial in this example helps tie together the known association between Daniel Burnap and his apprentice, Daniel Porter. Porter's written indenture to Burnap is known. The back of the calendar gear on this dial is skillfully engraved with both names, suggesting that Burnap may have also trained Porter in the skill of engraving. It is not unusual to find engraving patterns on the back of clock dials. The nature of this engraving suggests that Porter was practicing by engraving his Master's name several times as well as his own.
Daniel Burnap's clock dials are of unusually fine artistry. He was not only a clockmaker but also a very skilled engraver. This dial is an exemplary representation of his work. The dial is made from brass. It was hammered flat by hand into a thin flat sheet. The decorations are engraved on the front surface. These designs are filled with shellac or wax, and the front surface is finished with a silver wash. The silver compound adheres to the exposed brass surfaces, thus creating a stark contrast between the applied silver and the dark black filler that remains inside the engraved decorations. Burnap was a master of this technique. Please note how wonderfully decorated the four spandrel areas are presented. The time ring is traditionally formatted. Thinly formed Arabic-style numerals mark the five-minute locations outside the closed-minute ring. This minute ring separates them from the large Roman-style hour numerals. A subsidiary seconds dial is inset and positioned below the hour numeral XII. The calendar date of the month is displayed in the large aperture above the hour VI. The unusually shaped calendar window is a reoccurring form found in other works by this Maker. This dial signed this dial in the lunette. The signature is written in script, "Daniel Burnap / E. Windsor." The shaping of the steel hands is a reoccurring theme found on other Burnap-signed dials.
This fine movement is constructed in brass and is of good quality. Four-turned pillars support the two brass rectangular-shaped plates. The pillars are a distinctive form, cigar-shaped with ring turnings, and are commonly found in other works made by this Clockmaker. Hardened steel shafts support the polished steel pinions and brass gearing. The winding drums are grooved. The escapement in this clock is a deadbeat. The movement is weight-driven and designed to run for eight days. It is a two-train or a time-and-strike design having a rack and snail strike. As a result, it will strike each hour on the hour. A steel hammer hits a cast iron bell mounted above the movement.
The wood used in the construction of this case is primarily cherry. This case features a modern finish, and the color is excellent. This case stands on four boldly formed ogee bracket feet. The knees and the double spur returns are nicely shaped. The feet are applied to the bottom of the case. The base molding profile is a reoccurring form exhibited in other examples made in this region. The cherry panels used in the construction of the base section are positioned horizontally. The lower waist molding is somewhat compressed. The waist section is fitted with a shaped door. The edge of this door features a molded edge. One can access the two drive weight and the brass-faced pendulum bob through this door. The fluted quarter columns that terminate in turned wooden quarter capitals are inset into the front corners of the waist. The upper waist molding is flared outwards and supports the bonnet. Turned and fluted bonnet columns visually support the molded arch of the bonnet. A pierced and open fretwork pattern is fitted to the top of the arch molding. Three fluted finial plinths help secure the frets to the top of the case. Each plinth supports a brass ball and spiked finial. The sides of the bonnet are fitted with tombstone-shaped sidelights. 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 approximately 88 inches (7 feet 4 inches) tall to the top of the center finial. It is 20.25 inches wide and 10.75 inches deep, measured at the hood molding.
Inventory number BBB-11.
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.
