A fine and very rare Charles II walnut hooded wall clock Nathaniel Barrow, London, circa 1675-80 The five finned and latched pillar movement of approximately 3.5 day duration with generous plates measuring 8.75 by 5.75 inches, anchor escapement regulated by seconds pendulum and outside countwheel for striking the hours on a bell mounted above the plates, the strike train with detent and hammer pivot arbors set between angled cocks and both trains winding a single weight between them with the going incorporating stopwork to allow full subsequent winding of the strike, the 9.5 inch square brass dial with fine rose and foliate tulip bloom engraved centre incorporating lambrequin panel signed Nathanael Barrow, Londini to lower margin and manual sliding shutters for the winding holes, the case with arch-top formerly rising hood incorporating elaborate symmetrical scroll fretwork infill to the crossgrain ogee moulded tympanum over hinged glazed dial aperture flanked by Solomonic columns, the sides with rectangular glazed window to the left opposing hinged door for accessing the winding shutter lever to the right and with conforming quarter columns set against bargeboards at the rear, the bracket with platform applied with a leafy scroll carved apron flanked by conforming foliate side brackets with shaped backboard behind, 61cm (24ins) high. Nathaniel Barrow is recorded in Loomes Brian Clockmakers of Britian 1286-1700 as born in around 1634 and apprenticed to Job Bets (through Nathaniel Pyne) in 1653/4. He gained his freedom of the Clockmakers' Company in 1661 and took six apprentices over the following thirty years. In 1666 he is recorded as residing (in a building with six hearths) in St. Botolph without Aldersgate and stood as a bondsman for fellow clockmaker Samuel Horne two years later in 1668. The same year he married Isabella Mary Callendrine with whom he had eight children (two of which died in infancy). In 1679 Barrow helped John Layton settle his arrears with regards to quarterage payments to the Company with the amount to be returned by deducting a sum from each movement subsequently supplied by Layton. Nathaniel Barrow signed the Clockmakers' Company oath of allegiance in 1697 and was subsequently excused from regular attendance at the company due his advancing years/ill health, he is thought to have died in around 1700. Surviving examples of Nathaniel Barrow's work appear to be relatively thin on the ground. Loomes notes that Longcase and table clocks as well watches are known and a very fine walnut turntable clock by him was offered at Bonhams, London Fine Clocks 12th December 2018 (lot 121). The current lot is highly unusual in that it has two key-wound barrels driven by a single weight - no doubt to avoid the inherent issues of having several weights suspended beneath a hooded wall clock. To facilitate this the going train is provided with stop-work, this is to ensure that when wound there is enough length left in the line to facilitate optimum winding of the strike train. In addition to this the mechanism is very generous in its use of brass and is laid-out to ensure that the winding holes are appropriately positioned within the centre of the dial. This positioning, coupled with the need for the hour hammer pins to be applied to the rim of the large diameter greatwheel, does however require the strike hammer and detent arbors to be pivoted beyond the plates between cocks screwed to both the front and back of the movement. The engraved decoration to the centre of the current dial is also noteworthy in that it can be directly compared to that of a key-wound thirty-hour longcase clock by Thomas Tompion (formerly in the Wetherfield Collection) illustrated in Robinson, Tom THE LONGCASE CLOCK on page 62 (Figure 4/13). With this in mind it is perhaps also appropriate to add that the table clock by Barrow offered by Bonhams in 2018 has rare backplate engraving very closely related to an example by Tompion as illustrated in Dawson, Percy G.; Drover C.B. and Parkes D.W. Early English Clocks on page 318 (Plate 458). When considering these observations alongside the fine quality and inventive nature of the movement of the present clock, it would appear that place Nathaniel Barrow's workshop could be ranked alongside the best during this period.