Art Institute of Chicago

Timepiece

Works by Elnathan Taber (American, 1768–1854)

Date

1802–5

Medium

Gilt mahogany and white pine, painted glass, gesso, iron, steel, and brass

Culture

Roxbury

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Elnathan Taber apprenticed with a member of the Willard family clockmakers of Roxbury, who dominated the clock-making industry at the turn of the 18th century. In 1801 Simon Willard patented a timepiece that hung on the wall and featured an eight-day movement with pendulum and a weight. This wall clock is also known as a banjo clock because of its shape. The painter of the glass panels is unknown but shows an unusual sophistication and subject matter. Classically-inspired themes such as these figures with a temple in the background allude to the early American republic’s self-conscious affinity with the power and democratic values of the earlier Roman republic. The timepiece was originally owned by Edward Toppan of Boston and Newburyport.

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