DATED

A ROYAL TABLE CLOCK by DAVID RAMSAY

By MAJOR C. T. P. BAILEY

lr was eminently fitting tliat. at a timc whcn a Scottish Exhibition was Ix-ing hcld in London, ono of thc nation 's trcasiire-houscs, the Victoria and Albert Muséum. should hâve added to its store a Scottish relie of the greatest artistic and historié importance. This is a riehly décorated table elock tnade probably for no less a |>erson than King James I. by David Ratnsay, tirst master of the Clockmakers' Company, which was incorporatcd in 1631, and célébrâtes

No. I. — KIM. JAMES !.. WITM OTHEH NICH THE l’OPES N OSE TO THE HOTTOM OF CEOCK.

ils terrentenary on August jjnd of this ycar.

The dock, which was at one lime in the fanions collection of Prince Soltykoff, is dcscribed in Hritten’s standard Work on clocksand watches. but wrongly attributed to thc French clockmaker, David. This error was probably duc to thc fact tliat whcn Brittcn saw it the latter half of the signature, " David Ramsay,” was covered up by a small plate, which has recently been renioved.

A Scotsman by birth, and one of thc grcatest clockmakers of his day, Ramsay would appcar at thc timc of James I.'s accession to hâve been working in France.

For his son, William, tells us in thc préfacé to his book, Astrolagia Restaurât*! , tliat '' He (the King) sent into France for my fatlicr, who was then thcrc. and made him page of the bedehamber and groom to the privy chamber and keeper of ail his docks and watches." Iti 1613 he was appointed clockmaker extraordinary to the King, and five years later chief clockmaker.

" David Ramsay, watchmaker ami constructor of horologcs to his most sacred majesty King James I.," also looms large in thc pages of Sir Walter Scott s Fortunes of Xi gel. '* Thcrc fiourishcd," the novelist tells us, " in thc city of London an ingenious, but whimsical and self-opinioncd mechanic, much devoted to abstract studies, David Ramsay by namc.

who, wliether recommended by his great skill in his profession, as the courtiers alleged, or, as was murmured among his neighbours, by his birth-place in the good town of Dalkeith, near Edinburgb, lield in

PEMSONAOES, HOLI1INO ORINDSTONE

SÎO II.

A Royal Table Clock

James's household tlic post of maker of watches and horologes to His Majesty. He scomed not, howcvcr, to keep open shop within Templo-Bar, a fcw yards eastward of St. Dunstan's Church.” It is interesting to note that Kamsay was a friend of George Heriot, " Jingling Gcordie ” of the novel, jcwcllcr and moncylender 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 continuerl as elockmaker to Charles I., who appointed him Master of the Clockmakcrs'

Company in 1632.

The postscript of his son's book, Aslrologia Restaurala, to which référencé lias already bcen made, was written in 1653 " from my study in my father's housc in Holboni within two doors of the Wounded Hart near King's Gâte.” S o i t would appcar that, although the date of David Ramsay's death is uncertain, he was still living in the days of the Commonwealth.

It will be seen from the illustration (No. ii.) that the clock, which is of gilt brass, has a domed top. (inely pierced and engraved, covcring the bell ; it is capped by a small silver dial decorated with bright-coloured flowers in translucent enamel ; the four oval silver plaignes 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. Here James I., accompanicd by Henry, Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, Henry IV. of France and another person, possiblv the Earl of Salisbury, is seen holding the Pope 's nose to a grindstone, which is being turned by two

English bishops ; on the right a cardinal and three friars are shown watching the proceedings with undisguiscd sorrow. The subject inay possibly be a référencé to the failurc of the Gunpowder Plot, and if so, definitely places the date of the engraving after 1605. It is certainly not likely 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 leading part given to James I. in the engraving, there seems every reason to suppose that the clock was made for the King himself. to whosc ponderous wit the somewhat obvious 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 instrumcntality 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.

WiTHIX the last two years a discovery of much importance to ail interested in old painted l«\vter was made, when by chance the secret formula which h ad bcen lost for over sixty years was discovcrcd 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 evidcntly put there for safe kceping, and, when that ycar's diary was rcplaccd by a fresh onc, the papcr was doubtless overlooked and eventually forgotten. It will be interesting nnw to see what use will be made of the recipc,

which according to somc authorities contains seven ingrédients and according to othcrs seventcen, and whcther the industry which ceased operations in 1864 can, and will. tx- revived. (For further details see The T'ree Press of Monmouthshire, October 5th, 1928.)

Though it is a well cstablished fact that some of the liest examples of painted pewter wcre made at Pontypool and Usk (No. vii.), and evcn hallmarked silver and Shefficld plate unis wcre occasionallysent there to be decorated, Holland was a country so closcly in touch with Wales that, in

No. 1. — PAIR OF CHESTXUT JARS RP.I.OXGIXC TO LADY WALSTON

F 1 LC ;-EVt

les deuts pour l'empêcher de mordre ou de satisfaire ses appétits trop dévorants.

Ces sortes de caricatures ou allusions -mordantes contre le chef de l’Église catholique n’étaient pas rares au xvi* siècle, notamment sous Charles IX; et c’est un fait que beaucoup d’horlogers français do cette époque appartenaient à la religion calviniste ; ou assure même que plusieurs d’entre eux furentlroassacrés dans la journée néfaste de la Saint-Barthélemy.