Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Johannes Knibb:, Oxoniae Fecit, c. 1685
- Maker / attribution
- Johannes Knibb: (maker)
- Date
- c. 1685
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Oxoniae Fecit
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Stock no.
- SKU 172
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 172)
- Catalogue title (original)
- JOHANNES KNIBB: A FINE AND SMALL CHARLES II SPRING DRIVEN STRIKING AND QUARTER REPEATING TABLE CLOCK BY THIS EMINENT MAKER (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 172), this is a bracket clock by Johannes Knibb:, made in Oxoniae Fecit, dated c. 1685. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. The record is illustrated with 2 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 and small Charles II spring driven striking and quarter repeating table clock by the eminent maker John Knibb. The 6 ½ inch square brass dial is mounted with a silvered chapter ring and wing and cherub spandrels to the four corners. The centre is finely matted with elegant pierced and faceted pointers and the dial plate is signed by the maker beneath the chapter ring. The 8-day duration movement has a verge escapement and strikes the hours on a bell. There is also a pull repeat for sounding the hours and quarters on two separate bells. The backplate is beautifully engraved with scrolling foliage and tulips and is signed ‘Johannes Knibb Oxoniae Fecit’ in an arc. The elegant ebony veneered case stands only 12 inches high and is of typical Knibb form. It is surmounted by a knopped and scrolling carrying handle to the top and has a fine gilt brass inset foliate fret with a cherub’s head in the central frieze. To each side of the front door there are also the typical ‘Knibb’ elongated scroll escutcheons. Signed / Inscribed Johannes Knibb Oxoniae Fecit
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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