Author's Notes: I tried and tried to conjure a continuation scene from where we were left in the last chapter, but eventually I concluded that there was none – all that needed to be said or done had already been so…
So apologies to anyone to whom this last chapter comes as a surprise – but this is the ending I envisaged for this from early on. And as anyone who has read my fics before knows, I am a sucker for epilogues…
I am sure you all can read between the lines what was the follow up to their story… bittersweet as warned, but not a tragedy by all means.
XXII – "EPILOGUE – THE Wolf Clock"
Entry in Sothesby's auction house catalogue in April 2017, 'Important Watches and Clocks' section
"Wolf Clock"
'Wolf Clock from Winterfell'; Catalogue Number 128, dated approx. 1671-1674. A unique and highly notable longcase clock, one of the first of its kind ever seen in Great Britain.
ESTIMATE
Estimate Upon Request.
Sales starting price £300,000. [Click to read condition report/saleroom notice]
PROVENANCE
The first known owner: Sansa Hardyng (later Sansa Cassel, nee Stark), Duchess of Norwich, since then held by bequeathing or inheritance by the descendants of the original owner.
The current owner and seller: Her Grace Beth Stark, Duchess of Carlisle.
EXHIBITED
The Patek Philippe Museum, Geneva, 2001 - 2005.
LITERATURE
Wilson, C., The Art of Longcase Clock, London, 1998, pp. 289-291, 356-360.
Julienne, A.The Patek Philippe Museum: An Introduction, Geneva, 2001, pp. 21-22.
Rodriguez,GN, "Un Age d'Or des Arts Décoratifs: 1649-1700", Dossier De L'Art, December 2003- January 2004, Paris: Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, pp. 339, fig. 2.
CATALOGUE NOTE
No other horological invention has been as significant and influential as a longcase clock, finding its way from palaces and grand houses of the European royalty and aristocracy to the mansions of lower nobility, bourgeoisie and middle class (also called tall-case clock, floor clock, or grandfather clock). The present example is named 'Wolf Clock' after its rare decorative motifs and its association with family Stark, whose coat of arms bears an image of a wolf. This clock has the most complex longcase clock mechanism of all the known examples of its time, far more advanced than its existing contemporaries. The complexity of the mechanism is only rivalled by the clock's sumptuous case.
The origins of this clock are shrouded in mystery, but it is first described being in the ownership of the Duchess of Norwich in late 1600's. The clock has remained in the ownership of the descendants of the original owner to this day and is being offered for sale for the first time in its history.
THE CLOCK
The Wolf Clock is an eight-day movement weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower of the case. It is freestanding, with a height of 46in (1.16m), and its style represents the earliest known form of Comtoise style clock, also known as Morbier clocks or Morez clocks, featuring a curved "wide-hip" case and a greater use of curved lines, which distinguishes this style from other more angularly shaped styles.
The case features elaborately carved ornamentation on the hood (bonnet), which surrounds and frames the clock face, which is ten inches in diameter with the chapter ring made of copper, as are numbers and graduations. In addition, the clock internal mechanism has some unusual features that place it firmly among the most sophisticated clocks of its time (for details see Wilson, 1998).
The richly decorated case is made of oak and has cherry wood inlays and hand-made carvings, and is veneered overall. The decorations are one of the reasons for its name, being most extraordinary for a clock of this era, depicting various animals scrolling through the woods and landscapes dotted with rivers and castles. The most prominent of these is a wolf, being depicted individually as well as in packs, but another frequent motif is a small bird and another animal which appears to be a large dog, clearly distinguishable from the wolves. All three motives are used frequently and seem to be interacting with each other, making the style uncommon in comparison to hunting scenes and pastoral depictions of the time. Unlike often illustrated settings of hounds hunting wolves, the art of the clock presents all animals engaging with each other harmoniously.
The maker of the clock is unknown, although historians have tried to trace it to early pioneers such as Thomas Hackney from London or William Lassell from Toxteth Park, Liverpool. Neither can, however, be confirmed. The only sign of the clocksmith is the inscription on the inside of the door opening the case, "From SC to LB", and two other inscriptions with initials SC (in the brass pendulum and in the clock face). Other clocks of various types with the same initials are known, many of them in the original ownership of inns, town halls, country gentry and the Church, suggesting that the clock-maker did not frequent in high society, which may explain the lack of details about the clock's creation.
Some suggestions have been made that the clockmaker could have been a self-taught clocksmith near Cambridge by the name of Sandor Clegane. Some sources link him with a Royal Guard and Captain of Royal Arms of the same name, known for his brutality and ruthless reputation in the service at the court of King Charles I, but others refute this pointing to the documented death or this Clegane during the Civil War. The clockmaker Clegane was known as a leveller and a man of peace and the inconceivability of such a change in a character has also been quoted as an argument against these two being the same person. Not much is known about the clockmaker Clegane except that he lived and died at old age in the same community he had lived in since before the restoration of the monarchy, and that in his lifetime he produced a large number of clocks mostly to local communities. None, however, manifesting the complexity of the Wolf Clock, casting some doubt on the claims of him being the creator of this unusual clock. Without further proof this way or the other, the maker of the clock is commonly attributed as 'unknown'.
DOCUMENTATION
Accompanied by a facsimile of a letter bequeathing the clock to Lady Sandra Hardyng as a wedding gift (document no. 8, dated August 30, 1692), and a facsimile of the list of household items Lady Cathelyn Mormont took with her upon her marriage with Lord Richard Stark (later Duke of Carlisle) (document no. 23, dated December 2, 1789). No documentation regarding the initial commission or payment or the clock has been found.
THE PATRON
Sansa Cassel (nee Stark, previously Sansa Lannister and Sansa Hardyng) Duchess of Norwich (1635 - 1709).
Sansa Cassel was born as Sansa Stark in the Winterfell Castle in Carlisle in 1635. The eldest daughter of Eddard Stark, Duke of Carlisle, and Catelyn Stark (nee Tully), Duchess of Carlisle, Sansa was one of five siblings. At young age, Sansa was sent to the court of Charles I, whose close confidante and officer her father was. For a short time she was engaged to the second surviving son of King Charles, Prince James (later King James II and VII). At the eve of King Charles I's execution she was briefly married to Lord Tyrion Lannister, the second son of Duke of Hereford Tywin Lannister, but the marriage was soon annulled due to non-consummation.
The English Civil War saw the fortunes of Starks greatly diminished and their lands confiscated, and Lady Sansa spent most of Protectorate period in Norwich, where she married Harold Hardyng, a relative to then Duke of Norwich, Robert Arryn. Harold Hardyng later inherited the dukedom at the death of the young duke, thus conferring the title of Duchess to his wife.
The marriage of Sansa and Harold had two issue, sons Edouard (1655 – 1722) and Robert (1657 – 1712) before the Duke died in a hunting accident in 1658. The Duchess got married again in 1676 to Jordan Cassel from Carlisle. The groom had no title and the mismatched marriage was frowned upon by the contemporaries of her class, but this did not prevent the couple having one daughter in 1675, named Beth, and by all accounts living happily together for the rest of their lives.
In addition to issues from two marriages, before her third marriage Sansa Hardyng fostered an orphan girl Sandra Stone in 1673, who remained with the family as a recognised daughter and sister to Beth. The fostering took place when Sandra was just an infant, and at the time there were speculations about her actually being an illegitimate daughter of the Duchess herself. However, the Duchess's reputation was flawless and no proof was ever found to support the notion. The Duchess was also never linked to a particular suitor at the time, so gradually the rumours died down.
Sansa Cassel was well-educated with modern views about politics and social issues and a clear passion for the arts and craft. She regularly spent more than ten percent of her annual income on art, cultural patronage and social issues and welfare. She had broad collecting interests, which ranged from medieval works of art to new emerging technologies and furniture. She was passionate about contemporary paintings and in later years established a renowned collection of clocks and timepieces, the start of which is sometimes traced back to this piece, the Wolf Clock being the first piece of that kind in her collection.
Sansa Cassel died peacefully in her sleep while visiting her ancestral family home, the Winterfell Castle, after a sudden bout of pneumonia, leaving her younger husband a widower. By that time all lands and honours the Starks had lost during the Civil War had been restored to them, and it was during one of her many visits to see her brother Duke of Carlisle, Brandon Stark, when the Duchess left this world. At her request, she was buried in the crypts of Winterfell, where her ancestors had been buried for centuries before.
KNOWN HISTORY OF THE CLOCK
The Wolf Clock is first mentioned in the contemporary correspondence by a visitor to the Dowager Duchess of Carlisle in 1674. The description can leave no doubt about it being written about this particular piece, referring to it as "the most unusual clock the Duchess kept in her own bedroom instead of in the drawing room", then goes on describing the wolf, bird and hound decorations, and how it "is still looking as new" and "having the most pleasing jingle when it strikes the hours".
Hence the estimates of the age of the clock place it to 1671-1674, although no knowledge of its commission, purchasing or even maker are known.
At the marriage of her foster daughter Sandra to the Earl of Dunbar John Umber in 1692 the Dowager Duchess gave the clock to her as a wedding gift, and it travelled with the bride to her new home in North Berwick. The marriage was extremely prestigious for a foster daughter, but Lady Sandra was described by contemporaries as a strikingly beautiful and tall young woman with dark hair and beautiful grey eyes, so it is likely that the marriage was a love match rather than an arrangement between the families.
The Wolf Clock stayed in the ownership of the descendants of Lady Sandra for several generations, being bequeathed from mother to daughter until in 1776 the great-great-great-grand-daughter of Sandra Umber, Cathelyn Mormont, married Lord Richard Stark, later Duke of Carlisle, and the clock ended up in Winterfell Castle. There the clock has stayed until these days.
The current owner is selling the clock to pay for the upkeep of the castle, which is a National Trust acknowledged historic property and open to the public. The owner has expressed a wish to see it being purchased by a museum or a public trust so that future generations can enjoy its uniqueness.
- THE END -
More Author's Notes: In case if anyone wonders who was Sansa's next husband, I don't have a neat name linked to a canon character to give you– but I do have the surname Cassel, an honest Northern family close to Starks in good times and bad. I'd like to think Sansa found the honesty and straightforwardness of the people from her youth refreshing; brave enough to match her boldness, and strong enough to face the challenge she subjected all her possible suitors after her meeting with Sandor. And she had her memories of Sandor still, and assurance of him in the most concrete way - and I like to imagine that there were may times when she thought of him and saw him in her foster daughter…and then she went smiling back to her family and her husband who loved her dearly for her own sake and not because of what she represented.
And Sandor – he lived in peace for the rest of his life, respected by his peers and surrounded by people he could call his friends. He too, often thought of Sansa, maybe even heard of a daughter she had - maybe the two of them even paid a visit to the community some years after…
Thank you all for following this story that did not have the usual happy ending. Life is a song, sweetling, but not all songs have a happy tune…