A Queen Anne brass mounted ebony table clock with pull quarter repeat, John Bushman, London, earl

A Queen Anne brass mounted ebony table clock with pull quarter repeat, John Bushman, London, early 18th century. The six finned pillar bell striking movement with rise/fall regulation and pull quarter repeat on a nest of six graduated bells, the backplate engraved with a basket of flowers within symmetrical foliate scrolls, the 7 inch brass break-arch dial with ringed winding holes, false bob aperture and oval cartouche signed Jn:o Bushman, London to the matted centre within applied silvered Roman numeral chapter ring with lozenge half hour markers and Arabic five minutes to outer track, the angles applied with female mask and scroll cast spandrels with foliate scroll engraved infill between to lower and upper margins with the latter incorporating a N/S strike switch, the arch with subsidiary regulation dial flanked by unusual leaf-cast mounts within a foliate scroll engraved field, the inverted bell-top top case with Quare pattern foliate cast carrying handle and later vase finials above brass-edged upper mouldings and gilt scroll cast frets to the upper quadrants of the front door applied with raised mouldings, the sides with lozenge over break-arch glazed apertures and the rear door with break-arch window, on moulded base with brass bracket feet, (movement with alteration to escapement), 44cm (17.25ins) high. John Bushman (Buschmann) is recorded in Loomes, Brian The Early CLOCKMAKERS of Great Britain as a `High German` watchmaker born circa 1661 and made brother of the Clockmakers` Company in September 1692. He married Mary Wyatt in the Parish of St. Margaret, Westminster in December 1690, was made an Assistant of the Clockmakers` Company in 1720 and was believed to be working until 1725. Baillie records that he was born in Hagen, Germany. From this is possible that he was related to the Buschmann dynasty of clockmakers who worked from Augsburg throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The current lot was made at a time when the introduction the break-arch dial was a relatively recent innovation. The elongation of the square section of the dial to provide an engraved reserve for the strike/silent switch, coupled with the relatively small arch applied with unusual mounts and with further engraved decoration results in an individual and attractive appearance. The case with its resulting slender proportions, tight mouldings and generous `Quare` pattern handle perhaps reflects the influence Huguenot immigrant clockmakers such as Claude DuChesne.