Clocks · Clock
Bracket clock, inscribed ‘George Prior, London’, and made about 1800
- Maker / attribution
- George Prior (made)
- Date
- ca. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- tortoiseshell
- Dimensions
- Height: 54.6 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- 1010:1-1882
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by John Jones
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number 1010:1-1882), this is a clock by George Prior, made in London, England, dated ca. 1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: tortoiseshell. Recorded dimensions: Height: 54.6 cm. 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
George Prior worked at 31 Prescot Street, Goodman's Fields in 1765-88, at Rosamund's Row in 1794, and at 5 George Yard, Lombard Street from 1798-1810. This clock rests on four scroll feet and is surmounted by a domed top with a flame finial. At the corners are ormolu pilasters surmounted by similar finials. Above the plain dial is a marine processional view.
V&A — Physical description
Bracket clock with tortoisehell case resting on four scroll feet and surmounted by a domed top with a flame finial. At the corners are ormolu pilasters surmounted by similar finials. Above the plain dial is a marine processional view
V&A gallery label
CLOCK ENGLISH (London); about 1800 Case of tortoiseshell, with mounts of chased ormolu. Signed: 'George Prior, London'. Jones Collection
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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