Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Bryson, Edinburgh, c. 1820–1830
- Maker / attribution
- Bryson (maker)
- Date
- c. 1820–1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Edinburgh
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 32.5 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 5169
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 5169)
- Catalogue title (original)
- BRYSON. A fine Scottish Regency period 8-day mahogany mantel timepiece. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 5169), this is a bracket clock by Bryson, made in Edinburgh, Scotland, dated c. 1820–1830. 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 32.5 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 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 — Howard Walwyn
A fine Scottish Regency period 8-day mahogany mantel timepiece of rare small size. It has a flat 6-inch silvered brass dial which is signed by the maker Robt Bryson, Edinburgh and has Roman hour numerals. The steel Breguet-style hands appear to be original. The well-proportioned stepped chamfer top case is veneered in figured rosewood and has brass inset mouldings to the front. There are fish-scale sound frets and repoussé brass foliate carrying handles to each side. It stands on four brass ball feet. Date : circa 1820 – 1830 Height : 12 ¾ in (32.5 cm) Width : 8 ¾ in (22.25 cm) Depth : 6 ¼ in (16.5 cm) * Robert Bryson was born circa 1778 and by 1810 he was a respected maker of clocks and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. When he died in 1852 his son Alexander (born c.1816 – d.1866) succeeded him and became Clockmaker to the Queen in Scotland. He was well known as an inventor of horological and scientific instruments. Following his death in 1866 his brother Robert (II) took over the business and by 1872 it became known as Robert Bryson & Sons. HW6219
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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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