Early Clocks | Lee Borrett
John Ismay
Oulton Fecit, c1720
The wonderfully primitive brass dial illustrated here is a particularly interesting and rare survivor by John Ismay of Oulton, near Wigton, dating from around c.1720. Although only the dial survives today, it displays many of the characteristics associated with Ismay and the early Wigton School. The polished dial centre is engraved with the words ‘MEMENTO MORI’ — ‘Remember that you must die’ — together with distinctive cup-and-ring decoration and a square calendar aperture. The silvered chapter ring has detached trident-type half-hour markers and is signed at the bottom ‘John Ismay, Oulton Fecit’ — John Ismay of Oulton made it. Most remarkable, however, are the engraved scenes occupying the two upper corners. Here, winged angelic figures appear among the clouds, one blowing a trumpet and the other associated with a bow and arrows. Together with the prominent ‘MEMENTO MORI’ inscription, these extraordinary images give the dial a particularly strong religious character.
The survival of the dial alone means that we cannot now know the precise form of its original movement or how the completed clock was originally housed. Nevertheless, its engraving, religious imagery and signature provide another fascinating surviving link with John Ismay and the distinctive clockmaking tradition centred upon Wigton.
The Dial
Above. Showing the John Ismay dial centre with distinctive cup-and-ring decoration, square calendar aperture and the religious inscription ‘MEMENTO MORI’ — ‘Remember that you must die’ — with pointing arrowhead decoration. Photographed by Lee Borrett
Religious Imagery
Above. Showing the winged angelic figure among the clouds in the upper left-hand corner of the dial, blowing a trumpet and surrounded by cup-and-ring decoration. Photographed by Lee Borrett
Above. Above. Showing the corresponding winged figure in the upper right-hand corner of the dial, together with bow-and-arrow imagery and further cup-and-ring decoration. Photographed by Lee Borrett
The combination of the ‘MEMENTO MORI’ inscription with the winged figures gives this dial an unusually powerful religious character. In early modern art and devotional imagery, memento mori symbolism reminded the viewer of the brevity of earthly life and the certainty of death, while the trumpet could also carry associations with resurrection and the Last Judgement.
It is tempting, therefore, to interpret Ismay’s extraordinary engraved figures within this wider Christian tradition. However, without contemporary documentary evidence explaining the design, their precise intended meaning must remain open to interpretation.
What can be said with certainty is that the dial belongs comfortably within the strongly religious visual language found on a number of early Wigton School clocks, where the passing of time was repeatedly combined with reminders of mortality, judgement and the life to come.
Above. Showing John Ismay’s signature at the bottom of the chapter ring, ‘John Ismay, Oulton Fecit’ — John Ismay of Oulton made it. Photographed by Lee Borrett
John Ismay and
The Wigton School
John Ismay was born at Thursby, near Wigton in Cumberland, in March 1699. In 1711 he was apprenticed to the celebrated Yorkshire Quaker clockmaker John Ogden, although he appears to have returned to the Wigton district before completing the conventional term of his apprenticeship.
By around 1717 Ismay was once again in Cumberland and became closely associated with the clockmaking tradition established by his much older stepbrother, John Sanderson. The late Brian Loomes regarded Ismay’s surviving clocks as belonging firmly within Sanderson’s distinctive workshop tradition, and only a very small number bearing Ismay’s name are presently known. (Brian Loomes)
The wider commercial world in which Ismay worked is particularly interesting. Surviving Edinburgh records show that in 1715 Sanderson had travelled as far as Edinburgh attempting to sell two clocks. Although there is no evidence connecting this particular Ismay dial with that journey, the episode demonstrates that the Wigton School was not confined purely to its immediate local market.
Ismay was living at Tiffinthwaite at the time of his death in 1755. Today his surviving clocks and dials remain exceptionally rare, making this extraordinary religious dial an important addition to our understanding of his work and of the wider Wigton School.
Summary
This wonderfully primitive dial is a rare and particularly evocative survivor from the early eighteenth-century Wigton School of Clockmaking.
Its ‘MEMENTO MORI’ inscription, cup-and-ring decoration, detached trident-type half-hour markers and remarkable engraved winged figures combine religious symbolism with the distinctive provincial craftsmanship associated with John Ismay and the Sanderson tradition.
Because only the dial survives, we cannot know the exact construction of its original movement or whether the completed clock stood upon a wall bracket or was housed in a longcase. Nevertheless, the dial itself preserves an unusually rich record of Ismay’s engraving and religious imagery.
For me, its greatest fascination lies in the extraordinary combination of timekeeping and mortality. More than three centuries after it was made, the words ‘MEMENTO MORI’ and the mysterious winged figures still convey the deeply religious world in which John Ismay and the early Wigton clockmakers worked.
Acknowledgment
I would like to acknowledge the pioneering research of the late Brian Loomes, whose work did more than anyone else’s to advance our understanding of John Sanderson, John Ismay and the Wigton School of Clockmaking.
His book Brass Dial Clocks, together with his numerous published articles, remains essential reading for collectors and historians interested in these remarkable Cumbrian clockmakers.
Much of the historical background used in preparing this article has been informed by the published research of the late Brian Loomes, together with my own examination of surviving Wigton clocks and continuing research into the school.
