Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by George Sewell, London, c. 1785
- Maker / attribution
- George Sewell (maker)
- Date
- c. 1785
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 38 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 5191
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 5191)
- Catalogue title (original)
- GEORGE SEWELL. A fine George III period mahogany table clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 5191), this is a bracket clock by George Sewell, made in London, England, dated c. 1785. 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 38 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 III period mahogany table clock with hour strike and strike/silent function. The mahogany veneered case has a brass moulded three-pad top surmounted by a well-cast brass carrying handle. It has glazed arched side panels, an arched front door, and stands on a shallow plinth with brass ogee bracket feet. The 6-inch break-arch dial has a finely matted centre, and there is a silvered chapter ring engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five minute markers. It has finely pierced blued steel hands and a subsidiary dial for Strike/Silent in the arch. The gilt brass spandrels are cast with fine foliate scrollwork. The matted centre features a square calendar aperture, and the dial is signed Geo. Sewell, London in a silvered brass cartouche below XII. The clock has a high-quality twin-fusee movement with verge escapement. There is a pull quarter-repeat mechanism striking on a bell, operated via a cord and brass ball. The elaborately engraved backplate features scrolling tulip and floral designs centred on a basket of flowers and fruit. Height : 15 in (38 cm) excluding handle Height : 17 in (43 cm) including handle Width : 11 ¼ in (28.5 cm) Depth : 7 ¾ in (19 cm) * George Sewell was active in London during the first half of the 18th century and is listed on page 700 of Brian Loomes’ Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World , Complete 21 st Century Edition , working in Camberwell, London, from 1771-1804. His clocks are known for their refined proportions and intricately engraved movements, and surviving examples like this one are relatively scarce. HW6615
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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