Tall Case Clock

Artist/Maker
Eberhardt, Lewis Ferdinand –Belo, Johann Frederick
Place Made
Salem North Carolina United States of America
Date Made
1825
Medium
cherry –brass –paint –metal –glass
Dimensions
HOA 96; WOA 20″; DOA; 11″
Accession Number
2649
Description
DESCRIPTION: Tall case clock with removable flat-top bonnet. Bonnet ht. 26″, case ht. 70″. The face is white with painted yellow flowers in each corner. The face also has a rotating moon phase, date dial, second hand, and an alarm which is in the center of the face. The case has a round “port-hole” cut-out to see the pendulum.

One of the most important clocks in the Old Salem collection, the movement is signed on the back plate. Since Moravian craftsmen rarely signed their work, it has been speculated that this clock was the first one Lewis Ferdinand Eberhardt completed on his own after his apprenticeship with his father had ended. Because this clock is signed, it has been the basis for attributing numerous other clocks to the elder Eberhardt.

It is important to realize that this eight-day movement was made by finishing rough cast parts imported from England through Philadelphia. Very few American clockmakers made their parts completely from scratch. This accounts for the fact the faces on so many of these clocks all over the country are similar–many came out of the English factory.

The case is cherry and is related to the group of case furniture which includes the corner cupboard in this room and the desk-and-bookcase upstairs, among other pieces. It would have been constructed by a local joiner or cabinetmaker – not Eberhardt. Placement of the clock in the corner is a well documented period location.

Credit Line
Old Salem Purchase Fund