英荷音樂桌調節時鐘 - A. Fromanteel, Londini - - 烏木 - 約 1725-1730 年

An Anglo-Dutch Musical 6 Chime Table clock with pull quarter and chime repeat with 29 hammers striking on 15 bells with six chime settings. The clock has a gilt brass foliate engraved faceplate and backplate with the chapter ring signed A. Fromanteel, Londini. The dial has moon phase and subsidiary seconds and date indication.

Abraham Fromanteel (1646-1730) was from a large family of clockmakers of Dutch extraction and mainly worked from Newcastle and London. His three brothers He was apprenticed to his father, Ahasuerus (1607-1693) in 1662 and obtained his Freedom in 1680 after having returned from Holland. In July 1694 he was admitted to be a Steward by the Clockmakers Company but refused.

Around 1680, Ahasuerus (II) and John Fromanteel moved to Amsterdam because of the confusion around their locations and the different styles of signatures, the three brothers Fromanteel, Johannes, Ahasuerus (II) and Abraham decided to use one common signature, namely Fromanteel without initials or place of origin where they had workshops which were London, Amsterdam and Newcastle where Abraham was based. Their Timepieces from this period, up to around 1722 are usually signed only with the name Fromanteel.

After 1696 Ahasuerus Fromanteel (II) was in a partnership with his son-in-law Christopher Clarke (b.1668, d1735) who was based in Amsterdam. After Ahasuerus Fromanteel (II) died in London in 1703, Christopher Clarke went into partnership with Abraham Fromanteel. Abraham Fromanteel the last surviving serving member of this clockmaking family died in 1730

From a private European collection

Bibliography
R A Lee (1969) The First Twelve Years Of The English Pendulum Clock Or The Fromanteel Family And Their Contemporaries 1658 - 1670 plates 21, 22, 23, 24.
Loomes, B. (2006). "Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World", N.A.G. Press, London.
Enrico Morpurgo, (1970) Dutch clockmakers and watchmakers from 1300 p. 44
Britten, F.J. (1973). "Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers, p.396-397.