Mahogany Longcase clock

James Ivory is perhaps Dundee's most celebrated maker having enjoyed great success due to the excellent quality of clocks and watches he produced during his time and his success was passed to his son Thomas who continued after his fathers  death.

"JAMES IVORY.     Dundee,  1762-95.

22nd  September  1767. — "Which  day  James  Ivory, watchmaker  in  Dundee,  was  admitted  burgess  for having  paid  50  merks  Scots  to  James  Dick,  sometime treasurer,  and  having  just  now  paid  other  50  merks  to Henry  Geekie,  present  acting  treasurer,  in  full  of  his freedom."

"  The  terms  of  this  entry  show  that  James  Ivory  had no  previous  claim  to  admission  as  a  burgess  through his  ancestors,  and  it  distinctly  proves  that  he  was  the first  of  a  family  of  eminent  men  who  have  reflected considerable  lustre  upon  Dundee.  The  name  seems  to be  a  corrupt  form  of  the  Gaelic  cognomen  Iverach,  and the  family  had  probably  a  Highland  origin,  though  the locality  from  whence  they  sprang  is  merely  a  matter  of conjecture.  James  Ivory  rose  to  considerable  eminence as  a  watchmaker  in  Dundee,  and  was  entrusted  with the  making  of  the  clock  for  the  steeple  of  St  Andrew's Church  in  the  Cowgate.  He  served  frequently  as  a Town  Councillor  from  1768  till  1789,  and  it  was  whilst acting  in  this  capacity  that  his  son  James,  the  famous mathematician,  afterward  Sir  James  Ivory,  was  appointed one  of  the  teachers  in  the  Dundee  Academy.  James Ivory,  sen.,  died  previous  to  1795." — Roll  of  Eminent Burgesses  of  Dundee"

Reference: old scottish clockmakers by John Smith