Mantel Clock

This shelf clock is one of only two American-made clocks in the collection. Elnathan Taber (1768-1854) was a Roxbury, Massachusetts clockmaker who served his apprenticeship under celebrated American clockmaker Simon Willard. This style of shelf clock, known as a box-on-box, was made almost exclusively in Massachusetts. The weight-driven movement of the clock requires a higher case to work properly. The cases for clocks were constructed by cabinet-makers, not the clockmaker; this one features fine-figured mahogany and inlaid fan motifs. The use of inlay and its designs are representative of the decorative style popular in the last eighteenth century, thanks to designers such as Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite.