A George III oak-cased chiming longcase clock. John Collings (or Collins), Sodbury, circa 1780....

A George III oak-cased chiming longcase clock. John Collings (or Collins), Sodbury, circa 1780. Having a 12-inch broken-arched silvered dial with Roman hours, Arabic minutes and Dutch minute band framing a subsidiary seconds dial, engraved vignettes of waterside buildings, and terrestrial calendar crescent bordered by engraved maker's name "JOHN COLLINGS Sodbury", the spandrels with gentlemen involved in country pursuits (loading a shotgun with a ram-rod, holding up a hare, angling, and netting), the arch engraved with an angel musician holding a banner inscribed "Rodney", the four-pillar movement rack-striking the hours on a single bell and quarter-chiming on a carillon of eight bells via a pin-barrel, the case having a brass eagle surmount over a swan-neck pediment and blind fretwork frieze over Corinthian columns, the trunk with star-inlaid shaped long door between reeded canted corners, on a plain base and plinth, 90" (229cm) high, sold two weights, pendulum, key and winder. The banner 'Rodney' probably refers to the famed naval officer George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, (1718-1792), whose victories during the American War of Independence led to fame in printed and potted commemoratives during this period.