Timepiece
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Not currently on view
In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026
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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG
Elnathan Taber apprenticed with a member of the Willard family clockmakers of Roxbury, who dominated the clock-making industry at the turn of the 18th century. In 1801 Simon Willard patented a timepiece that hung on the wall and featured an eight-day movement with pendulum and a weight. This wall clock is also known as a banjo clock because of its shape. The painter of the glass panels is unknown but shows an unusual sophistication and subject matter. Classically-inspired themes such as these figures with a temple in the background allude to the early American republic’s self-conscious affinity with the power and democratic values of the earlier Roman republic. The timepiece was originally owned by Edward Toppan of Boston and Newburyport.
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