A fruitwood table timepiece, Thomas Taylor, Holborn, circa 1710 and later The five finned pillar single fusee movement with fine herringbone bordered asymmetric foliate scroll engraved backplate centred with a conforming oval reserve signed Tho. Taylor, in =Holborn, London, the 7 inch square brass dial now silvered and engraved with Roman numeral hours and Arabic five minutes enclosing later recessed basket of flowers engraved panel and original calendar aperture to centre, with pierced steel hands, the inverted bell-top case with hinged brass handle over cavetto top mouldings and glazed front door, the sides with rectangular windows, the rear with glazed door set within the frame of the case, on cavetto moulded shallow skirt base with moulded squab feet, (movement with losses, dial with alterations) 36cm (13.25ins) high excluding handle. Thomas Taylor junior is recorded in Loomes, Brian Clockmakers of Britain 1286-1700 was born in 1668 and apprenticed to his father (of the same name) from 1678 until 1685 when he gained his freedom of the Clockmakers’ Company. In 1697 Taylor signed the Oath of Allegiance and served as a Clockmakers’ Company Assistant from 1701; in 1707 he became a Warden and finally served as Master in 1710. He worked in the parish of St. Andrews, Holborn, London and died in around 1723. The current lot was originally made with ‘silent-pull’ quarter repeat hence would have only sounded the hours and quarters on demand only. Such timepieces were made for use in the bed chamber hence would have most likely been supplied to a particularly wealthy individual who could afford the luxury of having an additional clock for ‘upstairs’ use. The silent-pull mechanism has sadly been removed and the escapement converted from verge with short bob pendulum to anchor escapement with lenticular bob however the fusee, barrel, centre wheel and frame of the movement remains intact with no ‘butchering’ to the plates hence could be fully restored back to its original state by a suitable skilled horologist. In addition to this the dial plate has been ‘updated’ by removing the chapter ring, spandrels and matting to create a ‘single-sheet’ silvered dial which required a new chapter ring to be engraved directly into the plate and holes left over from the previous fittings filled. This modification would have most likely been done during the late 18th century in order to ‘update’ the appearance of the timepiece. The case, which appears original to the movement and dial, is of good quality and exhibits fine proportions and restrained mouldings reminiscent of cases housing movements and dials by leading makers such as George Graham