Nathaniel Mulliken (1722-1777) of Lexington, Massachusetts. A pre-revolutionary made tall clock.
A most important walnut case tall clock made by Nathaniel Mulliken (1722 -1777) of Lexington, Massachusetts. He was a member of a very important family of American clock makers. Very few American Pre-Revolutionary clocks were made in this country and fewer survive. This is a very fine example in wonderful condition.
This case stands on an applied bracket base that raises the case up off the floor. The bracket feet are nicely shaped. The waist section is long and centers a tombstone shaped waist door. This door is trimmed with a molded edge and opens to access the interior of the case. The bonnet features a caddy or sarcophagus top. This style of bonnet is considered an early form. It was use during this time period in London as well. Two wooden turned ball-and-spire finials are incorporated into the design. Both finials retain their original gilding. The tympanum is designed with inset panels. It is visually supported by two engaged colonettes that are smoothly turned. These terminate in brass capitals. The bonnet door is arched in form and opens to access the composite brass dial.
This style of dial predates the painted dial form. It is composed of a brass sheet and is decorated with applied brass spandrels, silvered time or chapter rings, and a circular name plaque or boss. The four cast spandrels around the time dial depict the four seasons. The spandrel in the lower left depicts winter. The two spandrels in the arch are the popular dolphin form. These center the Clockmaker's name boss. His name and working location are engraved in this convex surface. The engraved name plate reads. "Nathl. Mulliken \/ Lexington." The interior of the time ring is matted for contrast. The hours are indicated with large Roman style numerals. The five minute makers on the outside of the time dial and around the subsidiary seconds dial are displayed in an Arabic form. The hands are wonderfully hand filed. The skill exhibited here is very high.
The two train movement is brass, eight-day duration and of good quality. Four turned pillars or posts support the two large brass plates. 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 count-wheel 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.
This clock was made circa 1755 and stands approximately 92 inches tall to the top of the finials, 18.75 inches wide and 11 inches deep at the cornice molding. This clock is inventory TT-113.
Nathaniel was a member of a very important family of American clockmakers extending in two family lines for three generations. He was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, on August 8, 1722. His parents were John and Mary (Poore) Mulliken of Bradford, Massachusetts. It is thought that he served his clockmaking apprenticeship to his uncle Jonathan Mulliken (b. circa 1701), who was working in Bradford as early as 1735. Nathaniel also worked in Bradford until approximately 1751, when he married Lydia Stone. She was the daughter of Deacon John Stone of Lexington, who lived near the town line of Lincoln. It is said that Nathaniel left a clock with the Deacon "on trial." When he returned for payment, the courtship began with his daughter. Together, Nathaniel and Lydia bought a small house and shop on the main road now called Massachusetts Avenue. It was located on the rise of ground across the street from the lower entrance of the cemetery and just above the Munroe Tavern. Nathaniel was also a blacksmith and was proud of the andirons he made. They had at least seven children. Two of which also made clocks. Nathaniel Jr. was born on March 30, 1752, and Joseph was born on April 9, 1765, in the same town. Nathaniel lived and worked in Lexington until his death in 1767. It is thought that he trained other clockmakers besides his sons, including Benjamin Willard. Willard moved to Lexington to learn how to make brass works clocks. He is also thought to have trained Daniel Balch of Newbury, Massachusetts. Nathaniel's son John (born 1754) was a cabinetmaker and is recorded as making clock cases. Nathaniel Sr died on Monday, December 3, 1767. He fell at the door of his house and expired a few moments later. Nathaniel Jr. and Benjamin Willard continued the business in Lexington. Nathaniel II maintained this business until the shop, and the house were burned to the ground on April 19, 1775, by British troops while returning to Boston from Concord. A signed Mulliken musical movement designed to play lively tunes during the week and a Psalm tune on Sunday was reportedly found in the knapsack of a wounded British soldier lying on the Boston Road in Malden or Medford. Nathaniel Jr. died the next winter at the age of 24.
Several tall-case clocks with movements by Nathaniel Mulliken are known. One eight-day example of having a dial engraved with an American eagle is illustrated in Lester Dworetsky and Robert Dickstein, Horology Americana, 1972, on page 2. Brooks Palmer also documents this in The Book of American Clocks, 1950, p. 246. a Mulliken clock from the collection of J. Cheney Wells with a brass dial and maple case that was exhibited at the Harvard Tercentenary. This clock is now on display at Old Sturbridge Village. Another is illustrated in "Living with Antiques: The Brick House, New Hampshire of Mrs. Thomas C. Dunnington," The Magazine Antiques (July 1964) page 75. Another example is in the collection of the Concord Antiquarian Society, which is illustrated in The Magazine Antiques (December 1974).
