Thursday 28 August 2008

Archibald Sliman, Cumnock, 1837-50


An 8 day, 2 weight longcase clock with anchor escamement, made by Archibald Sliman between 1837-1850. I've only really lightly cleaned this dial and re-inked the numbers, but I thought I'd post it because it has an interesting layered look after various restoration jobs. I think that the painting at the top is original, but the corner paintings have been added at a later date (the rose and foliage is quite poorly done in comparison to the top), along with the maroon decoration around the edges. These areas have subsequently been painted with an ageing varnish, but for some reason they've chosen to keep the dial area free from varnish. The central area has been covered with gold leaf and then varnished also. I wonder if this is a relatively modern restoration job, gold leaf used like this is a new fashion, I wonder what they were covering underneath?

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