ϒ A rare North Italian padouk wood 'night and day' table timepiece with silent-pull quarter-repeat Unsigned, mid 18th century The rectangular back-wound movement with four baluster turned pillars pinned through the backplate, with spring barrel and verge escapement regulated by short pendulum cranked to clear the winding square to the four-wheel going train and the silent-pull quarter-repeating train of early Knibb type sounding the hours and quarters on demand only via twin hammers, the frontplate with motionwork behind iron falseplate fitted with three radial arms for mounting the dial around the separate disc centre now fixed and pierced with an fleur-de-lys shaped pointer within pierced Roman numeral chapters to the 8.75 inch square dial plate, the front with matted centre within applied silvered Roman numeral chapter ring with stylised sword-hilt half hour markers and five minutes to outer track, with pierced steel hands and fine foliate scroll cast gilt brass spandrels to angles, the gilt brass mounted padouk case with hinged carrying handle to the domed caddy flanked by pedestals surmounted with urn finials to the front over crisp cornice mouldings and foliate scroll cast and pierced mount to frieze, the square hinged glazed dial aperture applied with urn-cast mounts to upper rail, the sides with conforming frieze mounts over blind panels, the rear finished flush with simple door cut with a circular aperture now blanked-off with fabric covered panel, on cavetto moulded skirt base dressed with rosewood to lower edge, 52cm (20.5ins) high excluding handle. Although unsigned the present clock, in particular the case, can be compared to a hour-striking clock with alarm in a 'mulberry' (lampblack stained burr field maple) veneered case by Antonia Fenici of Modena illustrated in Brusa, Giuseppe La misura del tempo, L'antico splendore dell'orlogora italiana dal XV al XVIII secolo on page 546. The Fenici clock shares strong similarities with the case of the current lot in particular both have the same handle casting and double-skirt arrangement at the base. Another related clock, this time a silent-pull quarter repeating timepiece with alarm, was offered at Hampel Auctions, Munich in their auction of CLOCKS AND WATCHES held on Wednesday 7th December 2016 (lot 975). This second comparable is notable in having strong detail similarities in the movement including the back cock casting and pillars as well as the same pattern of spandrel ornaments to the dial. The design of 'silent-pull' repeat mechanism used in the current lot is of the earliest type which is believed to have been invented in around 1676 by Edward Barlow and/or Daniel Quare which, in practice, seems to have been first put to use by Joseph Knibb (see Dawson, Percy G., Drover, C.B. and Parkes, D.W. Early English Clocks pages 343-4). This mechanism will sound the last hour and quarter on two bells on demand only and is thought to have been devised for night-time use in the bedroom; whilst striking clocks with quarter repeat facility were generally intended to be utilised downstairs during the day and upstairs at night. The invention of pull-quarter repeat mechanisms rendered nigh clocks obsolete hence few were made in England after the mid 1670's however in Italy it seems that they persisted for longer. In addition to having a silent-pull quarter repeat mechanism the present timepiece was originally constructed with a dial which enabled time to be read both during the day and at night. This took the form of a rotating hour disc pierced with an arrow to serve as the hour hand reading against a fixed chapter Roman numerals pierced in the dial plate. It is possible that the current minute hand is original hence would allow the time to be read in tandem with the hour pointer during the day and by the hour pointer against the pierced chapter ring at night facilitated by lighting the clock from the rear by placing a light source beyond the circular aperture to the back door.What is particularly unusual with the current timepiece is that it is also provided with a silent-pull quarter-repeat mechanism which essentially acts as an alternative to a 'night dial' hence would seem to render the provision of latter redundant. The only logical reason why both systems for the telling of time at night were provided was to enable the clock to be used either within easy access or out of reach of an individual sleeping in a larger bed chamber of an Italian Palazzo. Although the dial has been modified with the provision of a silvered chapter ring and fixing the central disc to allow the hour to be indicated via the traditional arrangement of an hour hand, all of the original elements appear to survive hence it would seem that the clock could be restored back to its original configuration without having to resort to conjectural reconstruction. ϒ indicates that this lot may be subject to CITES regulations when exported. Please see our Terms & Conditions for more information.