In his clocks Chippendale is, on the whole, not so fantastic. The limitations of the long-clock shape partly account for this, and also, perhaps, the fact that he borrowed somewhat from Daniel Marot, a designer of a severer epoch. Yet some of the drawings are sufficiently flamboyant, notably that of a clock surmounted by an extremely aggressive Gallic cock. Much more suitable to English ideas and English rooms are two excellent designs from the first edition. The summit of the first is Chinese in style, it is true, but only to the extent of having a pagoda top. All below is comparatively simple. The opening for the clock face is straight-sided, with a semi-circular top supported by slender pillars. The long case is plain in front and slightly tapering as it descends, with blunted or splayed corners, and there are admirably proportioned mouldings above an upright plinth. Little fault can be found with the general appearance of this design. Pillars of some sort, often plain, except for flutes, are generally a feature of the clock face, and brass finials of the ball and spike shape are common for a finish of the summit (Plate CXVI.). Bracket- or table-clocks are hardly of sufficient size to be considered germane to our subject.

Plate CXVI. Chippendale Style, Mahogany Clocks

CXVI. (1) Clock, Chippendale style, mahogany. F. Hockliffe, Esq.

(2) Clock, Chippendale style, mahogany. Mr. Arthur Edwards.

Briefly, it may be said that Chippendale's bracket-clock is simply the first without the long case and plinth. Generally the face-opening is a plain semi-circular arch springing at once from the sides, whereas in the tall clocks the semi-circle does not cover the entire span. The pediment, having no large and distant plinth to balance, is reduced in size, a fact which argues a nice appreciation in Chippendale of the laws of proportion. A common designer might easily omit to consider this point, and a plagiarist might fit the pediment of a long-to a bracket-clock without any sense of impropriety. Inattention to such particulars as this might account for the extraordinary want of harmony between the parts, noticeable in so many of the ordinary long-clocks which have come down to us.