Clocks · Lantern clock
19th century English brass hook and spike lantern clock
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 19th century
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Lantern clock
- Materials / technique
- brass
- Dimensions
- Height 14.5 in (37 cm)
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 29, lot 1303
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 1303, Fine Clocks, Gardiner Houlgate (25th May 2023)
- Catalogue title (original)
- 19th century English brass hook and spike lantern clock, the foliate engraved dial signed Thos. Savidge, Exeter fecit with single iron hand enclosed by a silvered chapter ring, surmounted by pierced f (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 29, lot 1303), this is a lantern clock, made in England, dated 19th century. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass. Recorded dimensions: Height 14.5 in (37 cm). The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate
19th century English brass hook and spike lantern clock, the foliate engraved dial signed Thos. Savidge, Exeter fecit with single iron hand enclosed by a silvered chapter ring, surmounted by pierced foliate frets strapwork bell and finial, 14.5" high (pendulum and weight)
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Lantern, chamber and Gothic clocks
Domestic weight-driven clocks were made in southern Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Flanders from the fifteenth century. These 'Gothic' or chamber clocks have an open iron frame with corner posts, a verge escapement controlled by a foliot or balance wheel, and often an alarm or hour striking on a bell mounted above.
In England the lantern clock appeared around 1600: a brass posted-frame clock with a bell on top under decorative frets, hung on a hook or set on a wall bracket. After about 1658 many were converted to pendulum control, so originality of the escapement is a key question for any surviving example.
What to look for
- Iron (continental) or brass (English) posted frames with turned corner pillars and finials.
- A single hour hand — minute hands are rare before the pendulum era.
- Evidence of conversion: plugged holes, replaced escapement wheels or later pendulums.
- Fret designs and engraving on the dial centre, which help date English lantern clocks.
Dating clues
- Continental Gothic chamber clocks: c. 1450–1650.
- English lantern clocks: c. 1600–1720, with provincial examples later.
- Short 'bob' pendulum conversions after 1658; long pendulums with anchor escapement after c. 1670.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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