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Tall Case Clock with Masonic Symbols
ca. 1770
Jonathan Mulliken (1746-1782)
USA: Massachusetts, Newburyport
Cherry, brass, case iron, steel, silver plating
overall: 87"h x 19"w x 10"d
Special Acquisitions Fund and through the Generosity of an Anonymous Donor
93.004a-e

Masonic Tall Case Clock; a: case: Chippendale cherry case; b: flat-top bonnet with broken arch pediment and free columns; solid ogee scrolled door; plain base with bracket feet; eight (8) day, key wind, brass movement with rack and snail hours strike, case iron weights; silvered brass dial engraved with Masonic symbols and inscribed "JONATHAN MULLIKEN/ NEWBURY PORT"; dial also has secondary dials for "Strike/ silent", seconds and date; minute and hour hands are of pierced steel; Masonic symbols include: two pillars surmounted by globes, a hand suspending a plumb-line, a plumb level, radiant sun, crescent moon and seven stars, a blazing star, all-seeing eye within a Delta; c-d: weights; e: pendulum; f: movement; g: small silver key; h: smaller silver key; i: winder


Born to a clockmaking family, Jonathan Mulliken (1746-1782) plied his trade in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Mulliken’s abilities extended to engraving, a useful skill for designing and ornamenting clock faces. Likely at the request of his client, Mulliken decorated this clock’s face with Masonic symbols. The hand holding a plumb line, along with other symbols, suggest that the clock’s original owner once served as Master of his lodge.



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