Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Richard Street, London, c. 1715–1720
- Maker / attribution
- Richard Street (maker)
- Date
- c. 1715–1720
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 37 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 427
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 427)
- Catalogue title (original)
- RICHARD STREET. A fine George I period ebony-veneered bracket clock of rare small size. (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 427), this is a bracket clock by Richard Street, made in London, England, dated c. 1715–1720. 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 37 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 fine George I period spring driven ebony-veneered bracket clock of rare small size. The 5 x 7 ins break arch brass dial is mounted with a silvered chapter ring and crown and sceptre spandrels to the four corners. The centre has a dummy pendulum aperture and is finely matted with pierced and faceted blue steeled hands. There is also a date aperture above VI. The maker’s signature R: Street is inscribed in the arch below the subsidiary strike/silent dial. The fully restored verge movement runs for 8 days and has hour strike. There is also pull repeat for sounding the hours and quarters on six bells. The backplate is beautifully engraved with birds, flowers and foliage and is signed by the maker Richard Street, London in an oval wheatear reserve. The elegant small inverted bell top oak case , veneered with ebony , stands only 13 ½ inches high and is in the typical style of the period. It is surmounted by a brass knopped carrying handle and has finely carved ebony sound frets to the front and back quadrants. Height : 14 ½ in (37 cm) including handle Height : 13 ½ in (34 cm) excluding handle Width : 7 ½ in (19 cm) Depth : 5 ¾ in (14.5 cm) * Richard Street was a watchmaker, who was made a Free Brother in the Clockmakers’ Company in 1687. He is associated with Tompion, for whom he is believed to have made watches and clocks. Street is famous for the longcase clock commissioned by Isaac Newton in 1708 for Trinity College Cambridge Observatory which shows seconds in the arch, perhaps the first use of this feature. He is listed on page 461 in Brian Loomes’ Clockmakers of Britain: 1286 – 1700. HW6125
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
Related records
Clocks · 1705–1710
Clock by Richard Street
Royal Museums Greenwich
Clocks · 1598–1603
Circular table-clock with calendrical and lunar indications made by Nicholas Vallin in London between 1598 and 1603.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1611
English iron lantern clock, with wheel balance, by John Holloway, Market Lavington, Wiltshire, England, 1611.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1630
Lantern clock by Francis Forman, England, 1630
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1632–1640
Turret clock, England, 1632–1640
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1645–1655
Balance-wheel brass lantern clock, with two driving weights and one counterweight, by Thomas Knifton, Cross Keys, Lothbury, London, England, 1645–1655.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1650
Lantern alarm clock, silver, by David Bouquet, circa 1650
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1650–1660
Lantern clock by Peter Closon, England, 1650–1660
Science Museum Group, London