A Federal mahogany tall case clock, dial signed "Job White, Richmond," made in Massachusetts, market

A Federal mahogany tall case clock, dial signed "Job White, Richmond," made in Massachusetts, marketed in Virginia, circa 1810

The painted dial decorated with American shields and inscribed, “Job White Richmond,” made in Boston, MA, in a Roxbury-style case.

H: 95 in. W: 19 in. D: 10 in.

Provenance

By descent in a Richmond, Virginia family to the present owner
Collection of a Southern couple.

Literature

The clock scholar and dealer Gary R. Sullivan has done extensive work on Northern clockmakers trading with the Southern market during the first quarter of the 19th century. His lecture, “Clocks for Corn: 19th century Northern Clockmakers Trading with the South,” presented at the Winterthur 2012, Furniture Forum can be viewed on YouTube.

Footnotes

There was a Job White working in Blandford, Virginia about 20 miles from Richmond in 1803. Whisker, Hartzler and Petrucelli in Maryland Clockmakers (1996) list a Job White in Baltimore, Maryland directories from 1817 to 1822 as a watch and clockmaker. White may have also acted as an agent for Northern clockmakers. A clock signed “Job White” is illustrated on the cover of Ronald Roy Seagrave, The Early Artisans and Mechanics of Petersburg, VA, 1607-1860 (2010). A Job White also worked in Boston with the Willards. A tall case clock signed, “J. White Boston" is illustrated in American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection (c. 1969) Vol. II, pg. 402. It is possible that this is the same Job White.