Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Robert Henderson, St. Martin’s Court, London, c. 1770
- Maker / attribution
- Robert Henderson (maker)
- Date
- c. 1770
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- St. Martin’s Court, London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Dimensions
- Height 47 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 494
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 494)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Robert Henderson. A superb George III period musical table clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 494), this is a bracket clock by Robert Henderson, made in St. Martin’s Court, London, England, dated c. 1770. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 47 cm. 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 superb George III period musical table clock by this well-known London clockmaker. The beautifully proportioned mahogany case has a bell top with a central carrying handle and four pineapple finials to each corner. All four sides have corner chamfers with inset brass reeding. The arched door is bound with a brass moulding, and there are well-cast brass sound frets to the front. The whole case is of a rich, deeply patinated and highly-figured mahogany. The 8-day triple fusee movement strikes the hours on a single bell, chimes the quarters every fifteen minutes, and plays one of four musical turns every hour on eight bells. The break arch dial has a finely matted centre, foliate corner spandrels, inset datework and the maker’s signature on an inset disc. The selection dial for four tunes is set within the arch. The whole backplate is most beautifully engraved with flowers and scrolling foliage surrounding the maker’s inscription. Date : circa 1770 Height : 18 ½ in (47 cm) Width : 12 ⅞ in (32.75 cm) Depth : 8 ⅞ in (22.5 cm) * Robert Henderson , who was a most highly esteemed maker, is mentioned on page 366 of Brian Loomes’ Watch and Clockmakers of the World: 21 st Century Edition as working between 1768 and 1805. One of his bracket clocks is in the Imperial Palace Collection in Beijing and all the clocks made by Henderson which we have handled have been of excellent quality. RP01
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.
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