‘Tempus Fugit’ mantle clock

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey, 1857-1841, designer

W. H. Tingey, maker

Designed 1895, made 1896–1901

Aluminium, with copper hands and lettering

19 7⁄8 x 8 7⁄8 inches (50.5 x 22.5 cm)

Source: Masterpieces from the John Scott Collection.

See commentary below

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‘In the 1960s in Portobello Market I had in my hands the handpainted version of this clock, ‘Time and Tide Wait for no man’. I did not recognise Voysey’s masterpiece; it was in poor condition and at £27 it was too much. John Jesse knew better!" — John Scott

Commentary

An identical aluminium version of this clock was exhibited at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition of 1903 and illustrated in House & Garden. Voysey also kept an aluminium version at his drawing office, York Place. At the beginning of the twentieth century aluminium was still considered an exotic metal, as extraction methods were being developed, before it became a popular material in mass-manufacturing. By the second quarter of the twentieth century the ‘miracle’ metal was synonymous with Modern design. Though the painted versions of this clock are exquisite the elegant simplicity of the clocks’ architectural design is best enjoyed in this purist form.

Voysey’s original 1895 design, currently in the riba Drawings Collection, uses Roman numerals on the face. However, a photograph from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society exhibition in 1896 shows this altered design with the numerals replaced by the letters ‘tempus fugit’ (‘Time Flees’) (ill. in Wendy Hitchmough, C.F.A. Voysey, London 1997, p59). Voysey himself owned a painted version with the new face at his home, The Orchard. Other versions of this clock are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA.

References

Cabinet Maker & Art Furnisher 17 (1896): 143 [illustration of sketch for the clock].

Gere, Charlotte, & Michael Whiteway. Nineteenth-Century Design: from Pugin to Mackintosh. London 1993, Pp. 236, 240; pl. 302.

House & Garden 3 (1903): 211 [another version in aluminium].

Masterpieces from the John Scott Collection. London: The Fine Art Society, No. 19.

The Studio 7 (1896): 217 [another version with Roman numerals illustrated].

The Architectural Review 10 (July 1901): 36 [photograph shows the clock at the designer’s home, The Orchard, Chorleywood — photographs of his home]

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Last modified 25 May 2014