Clocks · Longcase clock
Automata longcase clock by Thomas Oliver, Hitchin, c. 1790
- Maker / attribution
- Thomas Oliver (maker)
- Date
- c. 1790
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Hitchin
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 10 in (208 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 462
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 462)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Rare Automata Longcase Clock by Thomas Oliver of Hitchin (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 462), this is a longcase clock by Thomas Oliver, made in Hitchin, England, dated c. 1790. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 10 in (208 cm). The record is illustrated with 5 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
A very rare and small Home Counties longcase clock with triple automata. The movement is of 8 day duration with a 5 pillar movement and strikes the hours on a bell. The arched brass dial has a separate silvered brass chapter ring, a silvered brass centre engraved with foliage and scrollwork, a subsidiary seconds ring and a date dial. The corners are decorated with applied brass spandrels. The arch has the rare feature of an Adam & Eve automata. The scene displays Adam & Eve to the centre with the Tree of Life behind them and the Serpent climbing the tree. To the sides a Bear, Lion, Elephant, Leopard, a Dog and even a Unicorn are beautifully painted. The well proportioned and small mahogany case of London style and quality has a long trunk door veneered with high quality flame veneer and a raised panelled base with a plain double plinth. The hood has reeded angle pillars terminating with brass Doric capitals, inspection windows to the sides and a broken arch top. Note: Longcase Clocks with Adam & Eve Automataâs are rare. 18th century examples with full brass dials and London style cases are exceptionally rare. The mechanism of this particular clock controlling the automata is extremely complicated and of the highest quality. The case has almost certainly been ordered in from the highly skilled London cabinet makers. Maker Thomas Oliver of Hitchin
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
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:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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