Artist: Robert Shipboy Macadam
Date: 1820
Museum: Hill-Stead Museum (Farmington, United States)
Technique: Brass
This eight-day, rack-striking clock has a weight-driven movement. The face is enamel over metal, hand painted in multi-colored floral designs. The clock hands are gilded brass. Two smaller dials on the clock measure seconds and calendar days. Tall case clocks were frequently placed in central halls so the time could easily be seen as people ascended or descended the stairs, such is the case with this piece in the Entrance Hall at Hill-Stead.Many of us today might look at this clock and call it a “grandfather clock.” The term “grandfather” clock did not come into usage until after 1876, with the popularity of a song that began, “My grandfather’s clock was too tall for the shelf so it sat ninety years on the floor.”According to the Old Scottish Clockmakers From 1453-1850 there were two men named Robert MacAdam working in Dumfries in the 19th century: a father and his son. Robert MacAdam Senior (identified in the book at M’Adam) worked from 1820-1845, and Robert McAdam Junior was a clockmaker from 1840-1867. This clock in the hall was most likely made by Robert MacAdam Senior during his early years as a clockmaker.
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