Ephraim Willard tall case clock. Boston Massachusetts. 211030.
Ephraim Willard of Boston, Massachusetts, made this inlaid mahogany case tall clock.
This fine inlaid mahogany case features excellent mahogany wood and mahogany veneers. The case rests on four ogee-bracket feet applied to the bottom of the double-step molding. The base features a mahogany panel with a long vertical grain pattern. This panel is decorated with a line-inlaid pattern featuring reliefs or cutouts in each of the four corners. This decorative inlay pattern is also used in the construction of the waist door. The perimeter of this rectangular door is fitted with applied molding. The door provides access to the two tin can drive weights and the brass pendulum bob. The front corners of the waist section are fitted with brass stop fluted quarter columns. These terminated in brass quarter capitals. The bonnet features a traditional pierced and open fretwork design and is surmounted with three brass ball-and-spiked finials. These are mounted on fluted plinths. The bonnet door is arched and fitted with glass. The two smoothly turned, and brass stop fluted bonnet columns are positioned on either side of the bonnet door. They are free-standing and mounted in brass capitals and bases. They provide the illusion of supporting the upper bonnet molding.
This signed "E. Willard" painted iron dial is colorfully. Floral patterns decorate each of the four spandrel areas and the arch. This dial displays the time in a traditional format, with large Roman-style hour numerals marking the hours and Arabic numerals at the five-minute markers. A dotted minute ring separates them. The subsidiary seconds dial is displayed below the Roman hour numeral XII, and the calendar date is indicated on a separate dial mounted below the center arbor.
The eight-day time-and-strike movement is brass construction and of fine quality. It is weight-powered and designed to run for eight days after being wound. It is a time and strike design, striking each hour on a cast iron bell mounted above the movement.
This clock was made circa 1795 and stands approximately 7 feet 7.5 inches tall.
Inventory number 211030.
Ephraim Willard was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, on March 18, 1755. His parents, Benjamin Willard and Sarah (Brooks) Willard, had twelve children. Four of the boys became clockmakers. Little is known of Ephraim's early life in Grafton, where he probably learned clock-making from his older brothers Benjamin and Simon. Simon Willard (1753-1848) was to become America's most famous clockmaker. Ephriam was also a clockmaker and most likely worked closely with Simon and Aaron. There is a notation in the History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1704 to 1876, including Grafton until 1735; Millbury until 1813; and parts of Northbridge, Upton, and Auburn. This notation claims Ephriam's brother Simon was hired by Joseph Rockwell to construct a machine for cutting and crooking the teeth of a carding machine at the same time. It is recorded that Ephraim did march with his brothers in response to the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775. His service lasted all of one week and five days. In 1777, he took up residence in Medford, Massachusetts, and was listed as a clock and watchmaker. In 1784, a lawsuit identified him as a trader living in Boston. From 1795 through 1801, he is listed as a Roxbury resident in the Roxbury Tax Records. In 1801, he purchased land and a house on Sheaf's Lane in Boston. The deed for this transaction describes Ephraim as a "Merchant." Financial difficulties followed over the next two years, and Ephraim was described as a Clockmaker. In 1804, he is listed in the Boston Tax Records as a clockmaker on Elliot Street. In 1805 Ephraim moved to New York City and is listed occasionally as a watchmaker until 1832. Like his older brother Benjamin, Ephraim was a bit of a wanderer. His production as a Clockmaker was a fraction of what his three other brothers produced. A small number of tall clocks are known. The cases he selected to house his clocks range from simple and reserved to what is considered the best the Boston area cabinetmaker had to offer.
