SHERATON SHELF CLOCK WITH WORKS BY NATHAN ADAMS

SHERATON SHELF CLOCK WITH WORKS BY NATHAN ADAMS
Boston   Circa 1800

Primary Wood: Mahogany
Secondary Woods: Northern White Pine, Oak

Height: 23 3/8 inches
Width: 13 1/8 inches
Depth: 7 1/8 inches

Reference: See Brooks Palmer, The Book of American Clocks, page 135, for information on Nathan Adams.

Nathan Adams was born in Newbury, Massachusetts in 1755. He is listed as a “joiner” in Danvers, Massachusetts in 1783 and in Andover, Massachusetts in 1784. By 1786 Adams returned to Danvers as an apprentice to clockmaker Ezra Batchelder. In 1792 Nathan Adams moved to Wiscasset, Maine and then to Boston in 1796, where he remained until 1825. This clock is engraved “Boston” and therefore cannot predate 1796. The federal nature of the applied carving, with its drapery and swags, suggests a late 18th- or early 19th-century date for the clock.

This clock is one of the most interesting examples of its kind. Because of Adams' early listings as a cabinetmaker, the possibility exists that he made the case and works of the clock, although the applied and ornamental carving must have been worked by a professional Boston carver. The amount and quality of decoration, with the delicate applied carving, metal and wood fretwork, and the bright-cut engraving on the face, place this among the most important American bracket clocks.

Item Number LLC 38