Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Thomas Gray, England, c. 1750
- Maker / attribution
- Thomas Gray (made)
- Date
- c. 1750
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- wood, brass (alloy), lacquering, clock making
- Dimensions
- Height: 48.3 cm; Width: 24.1 cm; Depth: 15.2 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.24-1929
- Credit line
- Given by Mrs Ada Borner in memory of her husband Hermann Edward Frederick Borner
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.24-1929), this is a bracket clock by Thomas Gray, made in London, England, dated c. 1750. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: wood, brass (alloy), lacquering, clock making. Recorded dimensions: Height: 48.3 cm; Width: 24.1 cm; Depth: 15.2 cm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
Thomas Gray is listed at 25 Strand in 1780 and then 42 Sackville Street in 1793. The japanned case is in the style of mid-18th century, lacquered in red and decorated with landscapes and figures. The silvered dial is inscribed and the movement at the back is engraved with floral patterns and cipher ‘T.G.’ in a circle.
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Bracket clock in wooden case lacquered red and decorated with landscapes and figures. The incurving top is fitted with a brass ring and at the four corners of the hood are brass acorn finials. Arched door with mouldings above, and a silvered dial with hand inscribed 'Thos. Gray London'. Side panels are filled with a reticulated pattern in brass work; moulded base is supported on brass bracket feet. Movement at back engraved with floral patterns and 'T.G.' in a circle.
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Bracket clock, English, ca. 1750, inscribed "Thos. Gray London", lacquered red and decorated with landscapes and figures
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1740–1760
Longcase clock, English, 1740–1760, japanned wood, John Ellicott
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c.1750
Long-case clock, English, ca. 1750, by Richard Peyton of Gloucester
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1751
Large wheel engine, signed and dated "John Tipping, Whildon Green, 1751".
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1755
Bracket clock by John Fordham, England, 1755
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1760
Longcase clock by James Cox, England, c. 1760
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1766
Clock by Alexander Cumming, England, 1766
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1768–1769
Regulator clock by John Shelton, England, 1768–1769
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1775
Longcase clock, England, c. 1775
Victoria and Albert Museum, London