Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Daniel Quare & Stephen Horseman London, London, c. 1718
- Maker / attribution
- Daniel Quare & Stephen Horseman London (maker)
- Date
- c. 1718
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 39.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 298
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 298)
- Catalogue title (original)
- DANIEL QUARE & STEPHEN HORSEMAN LONDON N°277. A fine George I period arched dial ebony veneered table clock (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 298), this is a bracket clock by Daniel Quare & Stephen Horseman London, made in London, England, dated c. 1718. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ebony. Recorded dimensions: Height 39.5 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 George I period arched dial ebony veneered table clock by this eminent partnership. The case has an inverted bell top with its original turned knopped brass carrying handle. The ebony and brass mouldings are of particularly fine quality as are the finely carved ebony sound frets. The overall proportions of the case are excellent. The 6 inch arched brass dial has a very fine matted centre and the makers’ names along with the number 277 are engraved on a cartouche in the centre below the dummy pendulum aperture. There is a calendar aperture below XII and a subsidiary dial for Rise/Fall in the arch. The blued steel hands are finely wrought and the gilt corner spandrels are beautifully finished. The foliate engraving of the exquisite backplate with its wheatear border has a cornucopia of flowers and the makers’ signatures Quare & Horseman, London 277 are set within a central cartouche. The restored single fusee movement has five pillars, verge escapement and original pull quarter repeat on two bells. Height : 15 ½ in (39.5 cm) excluding handle Width : 9 ½ in (24 cm) Depth : 6 ½ in (16.5 cm) * Daniel Quare was born circa 1647/48 and was one of the two or three most eminent early 18 th century English clock and barometer makers. He was a Quaker who became Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1708. Stephen Horseman became his partner in the same year until Quare’s death in 1724. The business continued under Horseman’s direction until 1733 when it went bankrupt. This fine example of their joint work dates from about 1718. Reference : B. Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World: Complete 21st Century Edition , p.634 Garnier and Carter, The Golden Age of English Horology pp 262-331 HW5971
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:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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