Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock made in England, ca. 1880, the dial painted in grisaille, possibly by George McCulloch.
- Maker / attribution
- George McCulloch (artist)
- Date
- ca.1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- brass (alloy), wood, glass
- Dimensions
- Height: 92 cm; Width: 66.5 cm; Depth: 30 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- CIRC.348:1-1955
- Credit line
- Given by Miss M M L Prichard
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number CIRC.348:1-1955), this is a bracket clock by George McCulloch, made in England, dated ca.1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass (alloy), wood, glass. Recorded dimensions: Height: 92 cm; Width: 66.5 cm; Depth: 30 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
V&A — Summary
The brass clock face is painted in grisaille, possibly by George McCulloch, and depicts fairies and garlands separating and in some cases supporting the figures depicted as phases of the moon with, in the centre, a crouching and hooded Father Time. The case has on each side a hook to support griffins (now missing). On the left side above and below the hook are fretted circles with silk backing to act as sound holes.
V&A — Physical description
Bracket clock with carved and gilt decoration. The square clock face, with a glazed door with reeded decoration, is of brass with painted decoration en grisaille depicting fairies and garlands, with figures depicted as phases of the moon with a crouching hooded Father Time. Brass hands
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific 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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