Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by John George Holmden, London, c. 1830
- Maker / attribution
- John George Holmden (maker)
- Date
- c. 1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 17 in (43 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 414
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 414)
- Catalogue title (original)
- John George Holmden - London / Retailed by Webster of Cornhill (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 414), this is a bracket clock by John George Holmden, made in London, England, dated c. 1830. 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 17 in (43 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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 — P A Oxley
An exceptionally rare William IV mahogany bracket clock with unusual Thistle decoration to the front elevation. The 8 day duration double fusee movement of unusual design, substantial build and quality and with an anchor escapement. The movement strikes the hours on a bell and is signed to the backplate and dial by the retailer Webster of Cornhill. The round painted dial with Roman Chapters and intricately made matching blued steel hands. The convex dial is enclosed within a cast brass bezel with fine engraving and a bevelled convex glass. The superbly made mahogany veneered case with reeded ball feet to the base and high quality Thistle decoration below the dial with further scrolls and swags. The top with a gadrooned circular moulding and an ornate brass finial. The rear of the case with an unusually shaped door and finely cut fretwork. A superb and rare example. Note: John George Holmden was the foremost movement maker for the famous maker, Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy. The movement of this clock is stamped to the frontplate Holmden - London. He was also an excellent Chronometer Maker. Richard Webster was also a Chronometer Maker and Watchmaker and came from a long established Clockmaking family dating back to 1675. He was made Liveryman of the Clockmakers Company in 1810 and promoted Warden in 1825. Although made in London we believe that due to the Thistle decoration, this clock was made for a Scottish Gentleman residing in London. Maker John George Holmden of London
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:Verge escapement
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