Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by John Cotton, London, c. 1695
- Maker / attribution
- John Cotton (maker)
- Date
- c. 1695
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- gilt, ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 32.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 539
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 539)
- Catalogue title (original)
- JOHN COTTON. A good William III period ebony and gilt mounted hour striking bracket clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 539), this is a bracket clock by John Cotton, made in London, England, dated c. 1695. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gilt, ebony. Recorded dimensions: Height 32.5 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 good William III period ebony and gilt mounted hour striking bracket clock. The 7 inch square dial is mounted with a silvered chapter ring and winged cherub spandrels to the four corners. The dial centre is matted with a chamfered and engraved date aperture above VI and it has finely pierced and facetted blued steel hands. There is a strike/silent lever by III and an opening between X and II for the dummy pendulum. The verge movement with knife edge bob pendulum runs for 8 days and strikes the hours on a bell. There is also pull repeat-work for sounding the hours and quarters on 2 bells. The backplate which has a wheatear outer border is exquisitely engraved with scrolling foliage and bears the maker’s signature John Cotton London inside a central cartouche below the elaborately pierced and engraved raised backcock. The oak case, which is veneered with ebony, stands only 12 ¾ inches tall on four brass bun feet. It has a shallow dome top which is surmounted by a double S scroll carrying handle and it has four gilt cast brass ball finials to each corner. Height: 12 ¾ in (32.5 cm) Width : 10 ¼ in (26 cm) Depth : 6 ⅜ in (16 cm) * John Cotton is recorded on page 176 of Brian Loomes’ Clockmakers of Britain 1286-1700 as being apprenticed in London in 1683 and a member of the Clockmakers Company from 1695-1697. HW6019
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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