A fine and rare eight-day longcase clock by Thomas Pyke of Bridgwater, Somerset, circa 1790-1830, with an automaton scene of a couple hitting a ball b

A fine and rare eight-day longcase clock by Thomas Pyke of Bridgwater, Somerset, circa 1790-1830, with an automaton scene of a couple hitting a ball backwards and forwards to each other, the unusual square brass dial has illustrations of the four seasons engraved into the corners, engraved within a decorative ribbon motif in the centre signed THOMAS PYKE, BRIDGWATER, the twelve inch brass break-arch dial with Roman hour and Arabic minute numerals, a seconds ring below twelve o'clock, a half-moon date aperture, and contemporary blue steel hands, within the arch is a wonderfully painted scene showing a gentleman and lady hitting a ball to each other, the ball passes to and fro, as if counting the seconds and quite unusually when the ball meets each racket, the racket moves to hit the ball back again, the mahogany case has a swan neck pediment supported by fluted columns which are in turn surmounted by brass Corinthian capitals, height 217cm., 85 1/2in., width 52cm., 20 1/2in., depth 28cm., 11in. It is believed that the scene portrays the game of Field Tennis, a distant forerunner of Lawn Tennis. It appears that the term ''Field Tennis'' was first penned by William Hickey in 1767. In his diaries, edited by Peter Quennell in 1978 as The Memoirs of William Hickey he described how ''he (a boisterous, hard living attorney) and some friends played this game in London: In the summer we had another club, which met at the Red House in Battersea Fields, nearly opposite Ranelagh, a retired and pretty spot ... This club consisted of some very respectable persons, amongst them were Mr. Powell, of the Pay Office; Mr. Jupp, the East India Company's architect; Mr. Whitehead, a gentleman of independent fortune; King, the celebrated actor; Major Sturt of the Engineers; and others. The game we played was an invention of our own and called field tennis, which afforded noble exercise ?The situation of the house, which was close upon the edge of the river, and no public carriage road near it on the land side, rendered it as private as if it had been exclusively our own ? Our regular meetings were two days in each week, when we assembled at one o'clock, at two sat down to dinner ... At four our sport commenced, continuing until dark; during the exercise we refreshed ourselves with draughts of cool tankard, and other pleasant beverage. The field, which was of sixteen acres in extent, was kept in as high order, and smooth as a bowling green ? Our club consisted of twenty and was always well attended; any member who absented himself, no matter from what cause, on a dub day forfeited half a crown, which was put through a hole made in the lid of a box, kept under lock and key, and opened only once a year, when the amount of forfeits was laid out in an extra dinner at the Red House, generally about 20th. December ... Besides our regular days, some of the members met every evening during the summer months to have a little field tennis.'' The game was obviously very popular for some time, and did not, it seems, contain itself as a regional pastime. A passage in the Sporting Magazine (Vol.2 P.371, Sept. 29th 1793) shows its vitality as an open air game: ''Field Tennis threatens ere long to bowl out cricket. The former game is now patronized by Sir Peter Burrel; the latter has for some time back been given up by Sir Horace Mann.'' For a longer, more in depth investigation into these clocks, please see the article: 'Automated Field Tennis' by Bob Everitt. (The Tennis Collector, No.32, April 1998, p.8).