DATED

A ROYAL TABLE CLOCK by DAVID RAMSAY

By NA|OR C. T. P. BAILEY

rntly fitting that, at a timc when a Scottish Exhibition was being held in London, one of the nation's trcasure-houses. the Victoria and Albert Muséum, should hâve addcd to its store a Scotlish relie of the greatest artistic and historié importance. Tliis is a richly deeoratcd table cloek made probably for no less a person than King James I. by David Ramsay, tîrst master of the Clockmakers' Company, which was incorporated in 1631, and célébrâtes

its tercentenary on August 22nd of this year,

The clock, which was at one time in the

famous collection of Prince Soltykoff, is described

in Britten's standard work on docks and watches.

but wrongly attributed to the French clockmaker,

David. This error was probably due to the fact

that when Britten saw it the latter half of

the signature, " David Ramsay," was covered up

by a smail plate, which has recently been removed.

A Scotsman by birth, and one of the

greatest clockmakers of his day, Ramsay

would appear at the time of James I.'s

accession to hâve been working in France.

For his son, William, tells us in the

préface to his book, Aslrologia Restaurata,

that " He (the King) sent into France

for my father, who was then there, and

made him page of the bedchamber and

groom to the privy chamber and keeper

of ail his clocks and watches.*' In 1613

he was appointed clockmaker extra-

ordinary to the King, and five years later

chief clockmaker.

" David Ramsay, watchmaker and constructor of horologes to his most sacred majcsty King James I.," alw looms large in the pages of Sir Walter Scott's Fortunes of Nigel. " There flourished," the novclist tells us, "in the city of London an ingenious, but whimsical and self-opinioned mechanic, much devoted to , abstract studies, David Ramsay by name,

who, whethcr recommended by his great skill in his profession, as the courtiers >LDisi; alleged, or, as was murmured among his neighbours, by his birth-place in the good town of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, held in

A Royal Table Clock

James's household the post of maker of watches and horologes to His Majesty. He scomed not, however, to keep open shop within Temple-Bar, a few yards eastward of St. Dunstan's Church." It is interesting to note that Ramsay was a friend of George Heriot. " Jingling Geordie " of the novel, jeweller and moneylender to the King, and also of James Lilly, the astronomer, who mentions him in his autobiography.

On the death of King James, he appears to hâve continued as clockmaker to Charles I., who appointed him Master of the Clockmakers' Company in 1632.

The postscript o( his son's book, Asirologia Restaurata, to which référence has already been made, was written in 1653 " trom my study in my father's house in Holbom within two doors of the Wounded Hart near Kîng's Gâte." So it would appear that, although the date of David Ramsay's death is uncertain, he was still living in tlie days of the Commonwealth.

It will be seen from the illustration (No. ii.) that the clock, which is of gilt

brass, has a domed jj^ ii.^tablb clock of gu top, finely pierced fir.

and engraved, cover- ear ing the bell ; it is

capped by a small silver dial decorated with bright-coloured fiowers in translucent enamel ; the four oval silver plaques on the sides are engraved with figures of the Evangelists.

Apart, however, from its outstanding merit as a work of superb craftsmanship, the clock is of considérable historié importance on account of the intriguing cartoon (No. i.) engraved on the bottom of it. Hère James I., accompanied by Henry, Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, Henry IV. of France and another person, possibly the Earl of Salisbury, is seen holding the Pope's nose to a grindstone, which is being tumed by two

£nglish bishops ; on the right a cardinal and three friars are shown watching the proceedjngs with undisguised sorrow, The subject may possibly be a référence to the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, and if so, definitely places the date of the engraving after 1605. It is certainly not llkely to be later than 1612, which year marks the death of Henry, Prince of Wales, and was probably made before the murder, two years earlier, of Henry IV. of France.

On account of its importance as a work of art and the leadîng part gjven to James I. in the engraving, there seems every reason to suppose that the clock was made for the King himself, to whose pondérons wit the somewhat obvions humour of the cartoon might very well hâve appealed.

It should be mentioned that this great treasure has been acquired for the nation largely through the instrumentality of Viscount Lee of Fareham, who brought it to the notice of the Muséum authorities, and Mr. Edmund J. Phillips, who contributed to its cost.

^ Concerning Tôle Peinte

By LADY WALSTON

WiTHiN the last two years a discovery of much importance to ail intcrested in old painted pewter was made, when by chance the secret formula which had been lost for over sixty years was discovcred in an old diary. It is in the possession of Mr. W. H. V. Bythway, in whose father's diary for 1864 it was found. The document was evidently put there for safe keeping, and, when that year's diary was replaced by a fresh one, the paper was doubtiess overlooked and eventually forgotten. It will be interesting now to see what use will be made of the recipe,

which according to some authorities contains seven ingrédients and according to others seventeen, and whether the îndustry which ceased opérations in 1864 can, and will, be revived. (For further détails sce Tfie Free Press of Monmouihskire, Octobersth, 1928.)

Though it is a well estabiished fact that some of the best examples of painted pewter were made at Pontypool and Usk (No. vii.), and even hallmarked silver and Sheffield plate ums were occasionally sent there to be decorated, Holland was a country so closely in touch with Wales that, in

les dents pour T empêcher de mordre ou de satisfaire ses appétits trop dévorants.

Ces sortes de caricatures ou allusions -mordantes Contre le chef de TEglise catholique n'étaient pas rares au xyi"* siècle, notamment sous Charles IX; et c'est un fait que beaucoup d'horlogers français de cette époque appartenaient à la religion calviniste ; on assure même que plusieurs d'entre eux furenttmassacrés'dans la journée néfaste de la Saint-Barthélémy.

PLAMCHE 11

C'est là une des plus belles pièces duxvr siècle; sa forme est celle d'une boule légèrement aplatie; la boîte* est un chef-d'œuvre de gravure et de ciselure; l'artiste s'est plu à la couvrir de fines dentelles d'argent et de délicates broderies commê.n'en sut jamais faire^ sans doute^ dans les temps primitifs de la Grèce, la rivale de Minerve, l'industrieuse Arachné.

Le dessous de cette pièce offre un tableau rond représentant la délivrance d'Andromède par Persée, fils de Jupiter et de Danaé; ce tableau dont les figures sont en relief a pour cadre un ruban d'argent doré autour duquel, comme on le voit dans la planche 2, courent des oiseaux fantastiques, des arabesques et des guirlandes de fleurs d'un fini d'exécution au-dessus de tout éloge. Le pourtour ou anneau qui partage cette boîte en deux parties égales, est découpé à jour, et il présente, comme le cadre du tableau, des fleurs idéales et des oiseaux de divers genres. La partie supérieure de cette pièce se compose d'un cercle alterné d'or et d'argent sculpté et gravé; un cercle plus petit et concentrique porte le cristal au travers duquel on voit l'aiguille des heures et le cadran : celui-ci est encore une de ces belles choses que les conYiaisseurs ne se lassent pas d'admirer; le cercle horaire, en or, se détache vigoureusement sur un fond d'argent couvert de charmantes arabesques découpées à jour et ciselées avec le goût le plus exquis. Cette montre a un double fond dont le centre est occupé par une boussole autour de laquelle sont quatre cadrans solaires pour différents méridiens; entre chacun de ces cadrans sont de nouvelles broderies d'argent que Tœil distingue d'autant plus qu'elles sont habilement disposées sur un fond d'or.

Le mouvement d'horlogerie est à sonnerie et à réveille-matin ; il marque

aussi les jours de la semaine et le quantième du mois; la plupart des pièces qui composent ce mouvement, sont ornées de gravures et de ciselures pouvant rivaliser, pour le fini des détails, avec les parties les mieux ouvrées de la botte. Je regrette que cette montre ne soit pas signée ni datée ; toutefois je ne crois pas me tromper en disant qu'elle est française et de l'époque de Henri IV.