About the Artwork
A handwritten note found inside the clock explains that it was originally made for Elias Brown, a wealthy merchant in Preston, Connecticut. As was commonly practiced, the name of the clockmaker is inscribed on the dial. However, a more unusual feature of this clock is the presence of an additional name, Abisha Woodward, on the face. Woodward was a wood worker who lived in Preston until 1788 and is thought to be responsible for making the clock’s case. The cabinetmaker achieved a delightful balance between sophisticated and provincial elements in the design and execution of this clock.
Tall Case Clock
between 1775 and 1788
Thomas Harland
1735-1807
American
Unknown
Mahogany, pine, ivory, glass and brass (alloy)
Overall: 87 × 20 3/4 × 11 inches (221 × 52.7 × 27.9 cm)
Timepieces
American Art before 1950
Gift of Mrs. Alger Shelden, Mrs. Susan Kjellberg, Mrs. Lyman White, Alexander Muir Duffield and Mrs. Oliver Pendar in memory of Helen Pitts Parker
59.149
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
Signed, on the face: Thomas Harland and Abishai Woodward
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A handwritten note inside the door reads: This clock was made by Thomas Harland of Norwich, Connecticut sometime between 1775 and 1795, was bought by my grandfather, Elias Brown of Preston, Ct. and was left to his youngest son, Billings Brown, my father, who gave it to me in 1865. Signed: H.B. Brown/Washington 1898.
Provenance
Elias Brown
Billings Brown
Henry Billings Brown
Mrs. Arthur Maxwell Parker (neice of Henry Billings Brown's first wife)
1959-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit Free Press. June 4, 1978, p. 11 (ill.).
Eight Generations of the Pitts Family. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1959, pp. 56-57 (ill.).
Chase, Ada R. and H. Bulkeley. "Thomas Harland's clock- whose case?" Antiques ( June 1965): pp. 700-701 (ill.).
American Decorative Arts from the Pilgrims to the Revolution. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1967, p. 32 (ill.).
Connecticut Furniture Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum. Connecticut, 1967, p. 32 (ill.).
Distin, W.H. and R. Bishop. The American Clock. New York, 1976, no. 26, p. 23 (ill.).
100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 186-187 (ill.).
Myers, M., Jr., and E. deN. Mayhew. New London County Furniture. New London, CT, 1974, pp. 57, 130, no. 62.
Cooper, Wendy A. In Praise of America; Masterworks of American Decorative Arts, 1660-1830, A Guide to the Exhibition. Washington, D.C., 1980, pp. 22, 29-30, cat. 26.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Thomas Harland, Tall Case Clock, between 1775 and 1788, mahogany, pine, ivory, glass and brass (alloy). Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Alger Shelden, Mrs. Susan Kjellberg, Mrs. Lyman White, et al., 59.149.
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