Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock, English; London, 1690-1700, by John Martin
- Maker / attribution
- John Martin (maker)
- Date
- ca. 1695
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- Marquetry of sycamore, with walnut, holly, boxwood and purpleheart, some stained by scorching, with gilt-bronze mounts. Carcase of oak and pine
- Dimensions
- Height: 40 cm; Width: 27 cm; Depth: 17 cm; Height: 35.5 cm (with handle down)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.61:1, 2-1926
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by Lt. Col. G. B. Croft-Lyons FSA
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.61:1, 2-1926), this is a bracket clock by John Martin, made in London, England, dated ca. 1695. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Marquetry of sycamore, with walnut, holly, boxwood and purpleheart, some stained by scorching, with gilt-bronze mounts. Carcase of oak and pine. Recorded dimensions: Height: 40 cm; Width: 27 cm; Depth: 17 cm; Height: 35.5 cm (with handle down). The record is illustrated with 4 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
V&A — Summary
Object Type Bracket clocks were designed to stand on a bracket or table top and were popular for libraries and closets. People The maker is probably the John Martin who was admitted to the freedom of the London Clockmakers' Company in 1679 and remained a member until 1701. Materials & Making The woods used in the marquetry case have been identified as holly (which has been stained red and green), sycamore, boxwood and purplewood. The case is decorated with repeating patterns. The domed top is inlaid with birds and arabesques. It has a finely chased, brass fold-down handle and four vase-shaped pineapple finials.
V&A — Physical description
Bracket clock in case decorated with repeating patterns of birds and flowers in marquetry of various woods on a sycamore ground, with ormolu mounts. It has a finely chased, brass fold-down handle and four vase-shaped pineapple finials.
V&A — Historical context
There is a similar clock in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Accession number: 1952-92-6
V&A — Object history
Bequest from Colonel Croft Lyons, per Mill Stephenson Esq., F.S.A., 38, Ritherdon Road, SW7 (RP 26/6627). Movement made in London and signed by John Martin (active 1679-1700). Listed among items previously on loan, now officially bequeathed on 18/8/26: Bracket clock in marquetry case (it is fitted with "rack striking work"). By John Martin, London. English; late 17th Century.
V&A — Production note
signed by John Martin
V&A gallery label
British Galleries: Although John Martin made this clock movement, he would have bought the case from a cabinet-maker. The small repeating patterns in the marquetry are versions of similar patterns in brass and tortoiseshell that were fashionable in France at the time. The cabinet-maker has created his version of that rich decoration using only three or four woods.
Inscriptions & marks
Inscribed on the dial 'Martin, London' and on the backplate 'John Martin Londini Fecit'
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.
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