A mahogany longcase clock by Thomas Mudge, priced at £45,000 from Cheltenham dealer Tobias Birch.
Mudge, apprenticed to George Graham, is best known as the inventor of the lever escapement which serves to this day in nearly all mechanical watches, but he also took clock case design in a new direction, introducing the more refined pillarless hood and the classical proportions befitting the Georgian interior.
Dated c.1765, this 7ft 4in (2.25m) clock is one of the first of that style.
