Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Daniel Quare, London, c. 1700–1710
- Maker / attribution
- Daniel Quare (maker)
- Date
- c. 1700–1710
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Dimensions
- Height 33 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 465
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 465)
- Catalogue title (original)
- DANIEL QUARE. A very rare early Queen Anne period burr maple and kingwood bracket clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 465), this is a bracket clock by Daniel Quare, made in London, England, dated c. 1700–1710. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 33 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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 very rare early Queen Anne period burr maple and kingwood bracket clock by this famous Royal Clockmaker. The fully restored 8-Day movement with its verge escapement and rack strike runs for 8 days, sounds the hours on a bell and has a pull repeat mechanism for recalling the last hour and last quarter hour on four bells. The dial has four winged cherub head corner spandrels, a dummy pendulum aperture and inset date work above VI. The maker’s name is engraved on the silvered chapter ring outside the finely matted centre. The backplate has the maker’s signature engraved within a herringbone cartouche set amongst profuse scrolling foliage. The exceptional burr maple veneered case with its kingwood mouldings is in remarkably original condition and it retains its original brass double S scroll carrying handle. Its small size and shallowness are of particular appeal, as is the rich mellow colour and patination of the burr maple veneers, kingwood mouldings, finials and turned bun feet. Height: 12 ½ in (33 cm) Width: 9 ½ in (24 cm) Depth : 6 ¼ in (16 cm) * Very few burr maple and kingwood moulded table clocks by Daniel Quare have survived. This is the first such example I have been privileged to handle. Daniel Quare is one of the great names from the finest period of English clockmaking and he was a justly worthy contemporary of Thomas Tompion, George Graham, Daniel Delander et al. He was born in Somerset in 1649, he became a Brother of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1671 and went on to serve as Master in 1708.
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
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.
Read next:FuseeAnchor (recoil) escapement
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