Clocks · Longcase clock
Arabesque & Strap marquetry grandfather clock by John Farwell, c. 1695
- Maker / attribution
- John Farwell (maker)
- Date
- c. 1695
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- burr walnut, marquetry
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 11 in (241 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 160
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 160)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Arabesque & Strap Marquetry Grandfather Clock by John Farwell - London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 160), this is a longcase clock by John Farwell, made in England, dated c. 1695. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: burr walnut, marquetry. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 11 in (241 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
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
Dealer description — P A Oxley
An elegant and rare antique Marquetry and burr walnut antique grandfather clock by this apprentice to Charles Gretton. The six pillar fully latched 8 day movement with anchor escapement and countwheel striking on each hour. The 11" square brass dial with separate silvered brass chapter ring enclosing a matted centre showing both seconds, date and very finely made blued steel hands. The makers name signed to the base of the dial below the number VI. The movement also with backboard fixing bracket as used by the famous maker Thomas Tompion. The high quality case with well cut Arabesque and Strap marquetry. Featuring foliage, flowers and inhabited with birds and insects to the trunk door. The trunk door also with a brass lenticle with original glass and with panelled sides. The base with a single burr walnut veneered plinth but also with the unusual addition of bun feet and again with panelled sides. The hood with original walnut barley twist pillars, gilt wood capitals and sound fret. The caddy surmounted by three gilt ball finials, front and side sound frets and marquetry inlay to the convex moulding. Note: John Farwell was apprenticed to Isaac Nicholl in May 1686 but later transferred to Charles Gretton in 1693. He was freed in 1697. Both these makers are well known for their high quality and unusual movements. Maker John Farwell of London
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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.
Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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