Bath, Art and Architecture

Monday, 28 September 2026

The Coade Clock case with the Movement by Francis Perigal.

As an Antique dealer one occasionally comes across the opportunity to purchase a real masterpiece - in 2005 this was one of those occasions - at the sale of The David Style Collection, Christie's, South Kensington, 7th June 2005, lot 214 when I was lucky enough to buy this clock.

It had been much overpainted and most of the fine detail had been obscured., the paint had protected the surface. The eagles head had at some point had been detached and glued back on. The urn surmounting the clock was missing.

After its purchase and after some experimentation I used a peel and strip paint stripper, which after very careful stripping and cleaning with a pressure house and the removal of the paint in the crevices using a Swan Morton scalpel.

This revealed the exquisite and very fine detail of this masterpiece by John Bacon I in Coade's Artificial stone.

Once the clock case had been stripped of the paint I took it to the workshops of Messrs coade of Wilton where I supervised the restoration and replacement of the missing urn on the top of the case in Coade Stone by the very talented Alastair Rennie.

Once restored it was sold to Christopher Claxton Stevens of the top London dealers Norman Adams at Hans Road, Knightsbridge SW3. (closed 2009).

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The Coade Clock.

Almost certainly cast from the model and hand finished by John Bacon 1.

Indented Coade Lambeth.

Dimensions 15in; 38.5cm high.

No. 525 in the Coade Catalogue of 1784.

Page below from the Coade Catalogue at the Bibliotheque Nationale.

https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/viewer/35774/?offset=#page=25&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=clock

The Francis Perigal (d. 1818) Movement.

5-inch enamel associated dial with regulation lever above XII, the fusee movement with anchor escapement, arched plates, signed on the backplate Francis Perigal, Royal Exchange, London, the restored drum case surmounted by an urn and eagle and flanked by seated female figures depicting spring and autumn, the plinth impressed Coade, Lambeth.

Sotheby's Condition report "Dial probably later associated, bezel repaired/adapted. Movement is complete and look as though it would run but may benefit from a clean and fresh oil. Case has been cleaned and restored and is in good condition throughout with very minor edge chips to the plinth base. With pendulum but no winder".

Francis Perigal was a Watch and clockmaker, member of the Devil Tavern Group, he received honorary freedom in the Clockmakers' Company in 1781. Watchmaker to George III.

Two Francis Perigals, father and son, are recorded working at Royal Exchange

The senior Francis Perigal (b.1734) was apprenticed in 1748 and a Freeman of the Clockmakers' Company 1756-1775.

He worked at Threadneedle Street and Royal Exchange, business that was set up by his father in 1756 and continued by his son until 1843 (both also Francis).

Francis Perigal (d.1818) was a direct descendant of the ivory turner, Jean Perigal, a first generation Huguenot refugee from Dieppe, who married at the French Church of Hungerford Market, in Soho, in 1701, Rachel Jourdain of a Dieppe watchmaking family. Rachel's relative Guillaume Jourdain was recorded as a watchmaker in Stepney from 1699-1703 and attended the French Church in Threadneedle Street.

Like the Jourdain family, Jean Perigal settled in Spitalfields. The Perigal-Jourdain marriage was witnessed by Jacques Lestourgeon who was probably a relative of David Lestourgeon, watchmaker from Rouen. The Lestourgeons were connected with the Hebert family, also watchmakers from Dieppe; David Lestourgeon, described as a 'turner in silver' who worked in Church Lane, St Martin's in the Fields, married Madeleine Hebert at Hungerford Market church in 1700. Anthoine Hebert, was a watchmaker in Horseshoe Alley, Shoreditch in 1701 but had moved to Porter Street, Soho at the sign of the Wig by 1706. David Lestourgeon's wife Madeleine witnessed Anthoine Hebert's marriage in 1700.

Jean Hebert was working as a watchmker in Wheeler Street, Spitalfields in 1705. The Hebert family were linked to another Dieppe watchmaker Jean Sene, who stood godfather to a Hebert daughter at the Hungerford Market church in 1706. Over forty years later Jean Sene was admitted to the French Hospital - with failing sight unable to work as a watchmaker' in 1748, aged 65, he was recommended by the jeweller, Mr Barbot, in Great St Andrew Street, at the sign of the Golden Lion.

Francis Perigal was the son of Francis Perigal I, who entered the Clockmakers Company in 1741 and became Master in 1756.

The early history of the Perigal family from Dieppe in London demonstrates this progression of the Huguenot family from settling initially in East London as manufacturers to establishing a retail business in West London to supply a growing luxury market.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/furniture-silver-clocks-ceramics/a-rare-george-iii-coade-stone-mantel-timepiece

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The Coade Clock at Christie's.

Lot 214.

The Catalogue description -

"Designed in the George III French/Grecian fashion promoted by the court architect and furniture 'connoisseur' Sir William Chambers (d.1796), and relates to his 1780 clock design for the Society of Antiquaries' Somerset House rooms (J. Harris and M. Snodin, Sir William Chambers, London, 1997, fig 254). The figures can be related to those of the Earl of Chatham's Westminster Abbey monument, which the sculptor John Bacon, R.A. (d.1799) designed in 1778, at a period that he was executing sculpture for the embellishment of Chambers' Somerset House. He had previously designed related figures of the Seasons for Champion's Bristol porcelain factory in the early 1770s, when he first joined Mrs Eleanor Coade's Artificial Stone Manufactory at Lambeth (T. Clifford, John Bacon and the Manufacturers, Apollo, October 1985, pp.288- 303 fig 2).

The 1784 Descriptive Catalogue of COADE'S Artificial Stone Manufactory lists under Section XXVII 'Pieces of Furniture and various ornaments, no.525 , Clock-case, with two sitting Figures, Spring and Autumn; an Eagle on the Top, 1ft. 5¼ins long'. Alison Kelly (Mrs Coade's Stone, Upton-upon-Severn, 1990) mentions that the clock bears a resemblance to a similar design by Adam and Vulliamy and sculpted by John Bacon for George III. The only other Coade clock case, which is an oval plaque with Father Time, is not listed in the above catalogue but is listed in the publication of items in Coade's Gallery. An example of this model was most recently sold Sotheby's, 22 May 2002, lot 544, it was dated 1794".

https://www.christies.com.cn/zh-cn/lot/lot-4513251

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The Coade Clock in the workshop at Messrs Coade of Wilton House, Wiltshire.

https://coade.co.uk/

A very low resolution photograph of the clock after it had been stripped of paint - it gives a fair impression of the condition - the Urn was missing and the head of the eagle had become detached.

Overall the clock case was in very good condition.

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The Coade figure of Chronos (Time) sundial

Chronos or Father Time, bearing an hour-glass (now missing), is perched on rocks and serves as a caryatid for a sun-dial disc with reed-gadrooned edge. The modelling closely relates to that of Coade's River God figure, noted in the catalogue of 1784, and can be attributed to the sculptor John Bacon (d.1799), with whom Mrs Eleanor Coade (d.1796) was in partnership (see A. Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, Worcs., 1990. p.62). The same Chronos figure is featured alongside the sarcophagus of Dame Anne Henniker (d.1793) in Rochester Cathedral and its design appears to have been mistakenly attributed to the sculptor Thomas Banks in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1794, part 1, p.410. (see A. Kelly, op cit p.250). Father Time attempting to destroy Sculpture featured as the frontispiece to the book of etchings of Coade's Gallery, which also includes this figure (see Kelly, op cit, p.66). Another sun-dial commissioned by the architect Sir John Soane (d.1837) is discussed by A. Kelly, Sir John Soane and Mrs Eleanor Coade, Apollo, 1989; while one purchased by James Baxter for his Turnham Green house in July 1818 was described as "A statue of Time with scythe and hour-glass complete with rustic plinth. 18 pounds. (A. Kelly, op cit, 1990, p.144).

Monday, 21 September 2026

Busts on Chimneypieces from the Drawing Matters website.

Two interesting drawing from the Drawings Matter website.

attributed to Joseph Sanderson.

https://drawingmattercollections.com/asset/9222

An interesting website but gives no hint as to the source of these two drawings.

Almost certainly from the group of drawings from the Shoppee Collection sold by Christie's (disassembled) on 19 December 1989, lots 37 to 53.

Charles John Shoppee collected between 1850 and 1880, Many drawings are by Joseph Sanderson

Joseph Sanderson - A Brief Biog from the V and A website and other sources -

John Sanderson, who died in 1774, and Joseph Sanderson, who died in 1747, were sometime partners in building. John may have been the dominant partner, having designed a grand Palladian house for the third Duke of Bedford at Stratton Park, Hampshire, as early as 1731.2

As for the family relationship, Joseph referred to 'my cozen' John in 1745, and bequeathed to him 'my gold ring of Inigo Jones's head and a small book of my own drawings of the five Orders ... as a token of our former friend.

Joseph Sanderson and his cousin, John Sanderson (d. 1774) were partners in building, and there is a possible connection between the designs and Barrington Hall, Essex where they worked.

John Shales Barrington, who succeeded to the Barrington estate in 1734, soon afterwards built a new Barrington Hall, 1 km. north of the church, and enclosed it in a park.

It is probable that the architect was John Sanderson (d. 1774), and the builder his cousin Joseph Sanderson (d. 1747). The main three-storeyed block of the house measured 110 ft. by 60 ft. and had a principal front to the south of nine bays, with a Corinthian portico from which a perron staircase descended on each side to the basement floor. The walls were of red brick, the architraves and embellishments of limestone ashlar. The ancillary buildings were concentrated in a lower wing on the east side of the house.

The interior was fitted with carved fireplaces of stone and marble, one of which is said to have cost £700, richly moulded plasterwork, and mahogany doors. Henry Cheere, the sculptor, provided a stone staircase and a for both of which ironwork was supplied by John Wagg, the black smith.

The Shoppee album contained elevations for Barrington Hall by Joseph Sanderson. The house was built for J. S. Barrington about 1740 and subsequently abandoned. Much of the furniture ended up with an unrelated family at Bradfield Hall, Berkshire.

Amongst the furniture sold from Bradfield was a pair of giltwood pier glasses, now at the Treasurer's House, York. The pair of pier glasses is somewhat comparable to the designs.

John Harris notes in his article, the connection between John Linnell and John Sanderson 'an architect whose practice extends from 1731 to 1770, when he finished the Radcliffe Infirmary after he death of Seth Leadbetter in 1766.'

Chimneypiece with bust.

They say Chimneypiece with a bust of Pope - this is definitely not a bust of Pope!

Interestingly it has the socle with convex panel typical of the works of John Cheere.

The Chimneypiece with bust of Rubens by Michael Rysbrack.

Drawing attributed to Joseph Sanderson.

Here the bust is stated as Shakespeare but it much more closely resembles the Bust of Rubens by Rysbrack.

The terracotta is in the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, the Marble is at Hagley Hall.

As far as I know there are no plaster versions.

See my post -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-rysbrack-statuettes-of-rubens-van_70.html

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/3588/

Bust of Peter Paul Rubens.

Michael Rysbrack.

Terracotta.

1743.

National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.

The Marble is at Hagley Hall paired with a bust of Van Dyck.

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Drawings of Pier Glasses by Joseph Sanderson (c.1690-1747) at the V & A.

This group of ten designs for pier glasses was formerly contained in a bound album of drawings, by different designers, assembled by Charles John Shoppee (1823 - 1898), the architect, between 1850 and 1880.

It had been disbound and the drawings separated and sold previously by Christie's on 19 December 1989, lots 37 to 53. The frames lots 43 and 44.

Sold again by Christie's 10 March 2005.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4448936

A group of ten designs for pedimented Pier-Glasses

seven signed with initials 'J.S.' (lower left)

five pencil, pen and grey ink with brown wash, three pencil, pen and grey ink and grey wash, one with fragmented watermark

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125046/design-sanderson-joseph/

See - Harris, John. A Digression on John Sanderson and the Rococo. Furniture History. 1990, 26, pp.101-113.

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Joseph Sanderson at Garendon Park. Leicestershire.

Info below from

https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v2/4f2b0687e78a4f27dbce38b4d9cdc7b40db83c50.pdf

The follies at Garendon Park, hide behind a blanket of unknowns, and what information that does exist is thin on the ground.

From letters to Leak Okeover (of Okeover Hall in Staffs) it appears that in 1745 Joseph Sanderson (a carpenter and joiner by trade) was working at Garendon Park, and a design for a triumphal arch that may be connected with the one there was among drawings sold at Christie's in December 1989. It is generally accepted that it was designed by the owner of Garendon himself, Ambrose Phillips, along with several other buildings on the estate.

Philips travelled extensively in Italy, making drawings of Roman antiquities, and was one of the original members of the Society of Dilettanti.

The Triumphal Arch is modelled on the Arch of Titus in Rome, of which only the central portion then remained, embedded in mediæval fortifications.

Philips, therefore, was a serious student of Roman architecture as the Garendon arch is effectively an essay in archæological reconstruction, presumably built sometime between 1729 and his death in 1739.

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Two further Chimneypieces from an Album in the V and A.

attributed to John Linnell.

The socle of the bust appears to be a combination of the late Roubiliac type and the convex panelled front type usually employed by John Cheere on his plaster busts which suggests the creator was familiar with the procucts of both studios.

The socle of the bust appears to be a combination of the late Roubiliac type and the convex panelled front type usually employed by John Cheere on his plaster busts.

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The South Front of Barrington drawing by Joseph Sanderson.

the date is unclear - 1740?

John Shales Barrington, who succeeded to the estate in 1734 had the new house constructed.

When the house was well advanced John Shales Barrington 'on some dispute about tithes … or … on a matrimonial disappointment … gave up the design and retired to a house at Waltham Cross, where he passed a long life in obscurity.'

The house was never completed in his lifetime.

The interior was fitted with carved fireplaces of stone and marble, one of which is said to have cost £700, richly moulded plasterwork, and mahogany doors.

Henry Cheere, provided a stone staircase and a marble table, for both of which ironwork was supplied by John Wagg the smith.

Some more notes on the Artificial Stone Industry in London prior to the takeover of Daniel Pincot's Manufactory in 1769 /1770.

A complicated subject - the idea here is to pull the various strands of research together - it can, at this stage only be a series of notes and links. A work in progress.

Literature -

Batty Langley's Early Years in London, 1729-35: Langley, Hans Sloane and Artificial Stone.

ChristineMcaleavy Garden History, Vol. 44, No. 2 (WINTER 2016), pp. 191-208 (18 pages).

Available on line via https://www.jstor.org/stable/44987901

The English Ceramic Circle Transactions of 1986, Vol. 12 part 3. This is the most important source for references to the early production of Artificial Stone by Holt, Batty langley and Daniel Pincot - not available on line - I will provide the salient points of this essay.

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Both Mrs Valpy asnd Alison Kelly appear not to be aware of the Artificial Stone made by Thomas Manning and enlarged upon here.

It may be coincidence but Batty Langley was living at the home of a Mr Manning at Leather Lane in 1727.

In the midst of his prolific book writing, Langley decided that he needed a patron. He recognised that Sir Hans Sloane, the royal physician and collector, was a potential source of support. The first surviving letter from Langley to Sloane was written on 12 May 1727,

Langley's address being given as lodgings with a 'Mr Manning, a Broker at the end of Leather Lane in Holbourn'. In the letter Langley asked for sponsorship of a new gardening book, emphasizing his patriotic credentials which set him apart from other gardening writers.

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Thomas Manning and Artificial Stone.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-lead-original-from-parham-park-in.html

Thomas Manning d. 1747. not to be confused with the several other members of the extensive Manning family of masons and sculptors.

'Thomas Manning' who is described in John Nost I's will of 1710 as 'my manservant,' and was left a suit of apparel (LMA AM/FW 1710/89).

It is likely that he learned his craft as an assistant to van Nost.

His earliest recorded works date from 1720 and were sent, at a cost of £l 17s, by 'Waggon and car' to Gough Park, Enfield - they were Fame, Mercury £12 guineas and Neptune £21 also two boars £8 8s.and two large vases £25 presumably of lead (Davis).

Richard Gough, the antiquary was the most eminent person to live at Gough Park, a house his father Harry had bought in 1719. The house at Gough Park was demolished shortly after 1900 and a planned replacement building never built. Some of the brickwork from the site was salvaged by E.A. Bowles, the famous botanist and plantsman, and taken to Myddelton House. These included part of a pillar and some other unidentified stonework and were placed in the garden. Two lead ostriches that were originally on the roof of Gough Park overlooking the garden at the rear of the house were also taken to Myddleton House. Also two lead boars that were originally displayed on pillars at the entrance to the house, but they have since been stolen. Some original wrought ironwork forming part of the boundary wall still remains at Gough Park.

In 1729 Manning moved into a property in Portugal Row next door to Catherine Nost which was, from 1734, next door to the sculpture workshops of Thomas Carter I. His premises were initially rated at £8, but his business must have expanded by 1737, when he had two properties in the street, rated at £10 and £12.

In 1734 Samuel Carter moved into a yard next door rated at £12 annually on Portugal Row, previously occupied by Catherine Nost (check this!). The Carter workshop stood here for over fifty years. His immediate neighbour was Thomas Manning.

He appears to have taken over the second premises from Andrew Carpenter, who died that year. By 1744 he had taken over another property, with tenants, in the street, renamed White Horse Street in 1737.

In 1735 Manning supplied a statue of Britannia to the London Assurance Company of King William Street in Westminster, one of the earliest recorded works in artificial stone? produced in this country.

This statue of Britannia has disappeared but it is tempting to suggest that the Sotheby's River God illustrated here is also a product of Manning in "artificial Stone".

Manning stood as a character witness in the trial of Mary Johnson, otherwise Sudley, otherwise Barker, on 5 December 1746, who was accused of the theft of a gold ring from a William Archer.

Manning described himself as a 'Master Statuary of "Hide - Park" and testified that the defendant had 'lived in two houses of mine for these two years'. The properties were in 'White-horse street, just as you go down the hill' (POB 1674—1834, ref t17461205-24).

Manning died in 1747. An obituary describes him as 'an ingenious statuary near Hyde Park Corner' - Gentleman's Magazine 1747, 545).

In his will, PROB 11/758/131 proved on 19 November 1747, he left his stock in trade, utensils, chattels, books, plate and his house on the corner of White Horse Street to his wife Mary.

Another 'little house' in White Horse Street was left jointly to his wife Mary and his mother, Elizabeth, together with the lease of three houses and a stable on the same street.

He mentions two brothers, Edward and Arnold, to whom he left the proverbial one shilling and his nephews, Thomas and John Manning (PROB 11/758/6).

The Lead Reclining Statue at Parham Park in Sussex and the Artificial Stone River God originally at Hagley.

It is very obviously related to the lead river god now at Parham. The figure was brought to Parham by Robert Curzon from Hagley Hall in Staffordshire in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Here attributed to Thomas Manning (d.1747) of Portugal Row (later Picadilly) and White Horse Street.

The life size terracotta /artificial stone river god was sold by Sotheby's Lot 133. 9 July 1987. Length 180 cms. Current location unknown. - where is it now?

It appears to have been fired in two halves.

Prior to the terracotta River God appearing at Sotheby's, I had seen it in a garden of a house which was being developed in Kingsbury St (East side) Marlborough in 1986.

I am very grateful to Christopher Mason and Eleanor Goldthorpe of the Sculpture Department at Sotheby's for providing the 1987 Sotheby's Catalogue entry.

The Manning River God at Stourhead

Henry Hoare Ledger 1734-49, 28 January 1743/44, ‘Thos Manning for a River God &c’ £15-15s. Anonymous 1764 (Stourton Gardens 1749), p. 102 -

‘For yonder silver god they sigh, they burn, | And pour their tears incessant thro’ his urn; | But cold as lead, and deaf when they complain, | Supine he lies, and they but weep in vain. | See from beneath him (tinctur’d by the sun | With colours radiant) sheets of water run’.

WSA, 383/907(1), Henry Flitcroft to Henry Hoare, 25 August 1744, ‘My Next shall bring you… the Temple of Ceres with the Rocky Arch in which I propose to place the River God, & a Sketch how I conceive the head of ye lake’;

Henry Flitcroft to Henry Hoare 7 September 1744, ‘I have inclosd to you the Plan & Elevation of ye Temple of Ceres with a Sketch of ye Entablature showing how the Tryglyphs & Metops should be proportioned with the Skuls &c introduced therein… I have also sent a plan & Section for the Manner of Laying the Foundations… a Section of ye inside of this Building shall be soon sent, with particular drawing of ye Doorcase & pedestal Mouldings’. Payments to William Privett which may relate to the Temple of Flora: HH Ledger 1734-49; 27 September 1745, ‘on accot of ye Temple’ £40; 3 November 1746, ‘in full of all Demands’ £28-8s-1d; 30 March 1747, ‘on accot of Buildg’ £30. C. Hoare & Co., HB/5/A/6, Partners’ Ledger 1742-51, HH account, 5 October 1745, ‘His Bill to Willm Privet (Mason)’ £40; 30 December 1745, ‘Willm Privet of Chillmark’s Bill’ £30.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-lead-original-from-parham-park-in.html

The Sotheby's River God.

Thomas Manning (d.1747).

Terracotta / Artificial Stone.

Fired in two halves - the joint is obvious.

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The Other River God at Stourhead.

Presumably cast in lead but it is concievably the Sotheby's - Marlborough terracotta / artificial stone version.

Thomas Manning (d.1747).

There were two river gods at Stourhead - the one in the grotto which survives by John Cheere and the reclining figure which is missing.

https://drawingmatter.org/the-temple-of-flora-stourhead-a-paradise-revisited/

Henry Flitcroft (1697–1769), elevation, Rocky Arch (the Cascade below the Temple of Flora), Stourhead, c.1744.

This is an extract from Stourhead, Henry Hoare's Paradise Revisited by Dudley Dodd pub. 2021.

Maybe not the last word on the architecture and sculpture in the garden at Stourhead but the best work on the subject to date - and highly recommended!

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The Temple of Flora, Stourhead, Wiltshire, designed by Henry Flitcroft (1697–1769). 1753.

The drawing here attributed to Flitcroft.

Here the pose of the statue is reversed.

The temple presides over springs which provided water to the village. It was designed by Flitcroft, built by William Privett, 1744–5 and first dedicated, by Henry Hoare, to Ceres. [1] Flitcroft’s letters indicate the temple replaced an earlier structure. The Doric portico is limestone from the Chilmark quarry while the temple itself is greensand stone, rendered at the sides and exposed at the rear. The tiled roof was renewed in 1842 and the building restored in 1842 and the building restored in 1894. [2]

The story of the temple is complex to unravel. It housed the marble statue of Livia Augusta as Ceres, Roman goddess of agriculture or, in Greek mythology, Demeter, the mother of Persephone and instigator of the Eleusinian mysteries. After Henry moved her to the Pantheon, c.1760, he rededicated the temple to Flora, goddess of fertility and flowers. Above the entrance is inscribed Procul, o procul este profane (Begone, you who are uninitiated), resonating nicely with the Eleusinian mysteries, but this well-known quotation from Virgil is first documented at Stourhead in 1787. [3]

Hanway, 1756, described:

the temple of Ceres, which is on the side of the water nearest to the village… Eight or ten feet below, level with the water, in the subterraneous grotto, is another figure of the river god.

Drawing by by C. W. Bampfylde (1720–1791). Pen and colour wash, 280 × 470 mm.

Pen and colour wash, 178 × 315 mm. DMC 1233.

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The life size Stone River God from Barrington Hall.

Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex.

Sworders sale 13 November 2025.

From at least the mid-nineteenth century, local sources record the figure “at the overflow of the lake,” confirming its connection to the estate’s waterways (Essex Record Office, Essex Parish History, “Notes on Barrington Hall, Hatfield Broad Oak,” 1970, ref. T/P 446A/1).

It is not impossible that this is the River God from Stourhead.

https://www.sworder.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-125---a-carved-limestone-statue-after-the-antique/?lot=550209&so=0&st=&sto=0&au=1257&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=96&pn=2&g=1