Michael Knight Thirty-day Seaweed Marquetry Longcase Clock

Michael Knight Thirty-day Seaweed Marquetry Longcase Clock, London, c. 1700, the marquetry sarcophagus top with blind fret on two levels to the square glazed door with engaged columns over the 12-in. composite brass roman numeral dial signed along the lower edge of the silvered chapter ring Mic. Knight/London , half-quarter, quarter- and half-hour markings inside the chapter ring, the matted center with ringed winding and seconds holes, recessed date dial and seconds chapter in arabic numerals, pierced blued-steel hands, cast brass spandrels and herringbone engraving along the edge with grotesque masks at 30 and 60, the rectangular waist door with brass ringed lenticle and elaborate seaweed marquetry throughout to the base resting on a single-stage base molding, thirty-day duration, brass, five ringed and latched pillar movement with recoil escapement, pallet pattern pierced on back plate, count wheel strike, all powered by two iron weights and regulated by a seconds beating pendulum, ht. 92 in. Note: The case retains the original hood lock, brass hinges, and marquetry depicting jesters with birds, the Grim Reaper complete with scythe and hourglass, other figures, flowers, and scrolls. The case sides are fully veneered with burled walnut and banded with straight grained veneer. Michael Knight was apprenticed in 1673 and is listed in the Clockmakers Company 1681-1714 (G.H. Baillie, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World , p. 182).