Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock of ebony, with face of West Midlands enamel painted in black and crimson, made by James Tregent, London, England, about 1780
- Maker / attribution
- James Tregent (maker)
- Date
- ca. 1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- enamel
- Dimensions
- Height: 46 cm; Width: 28 cm; Depth: 19 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- 414:1508-1885
- Credit line
- Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number 414:1508-1885), this is a bracket clock by James Tregent, made in London, England, dated ca. 1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: enamel. Recorded dimensions: Height: 46 cm; Width: 28 cm; Depth: 19 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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 — Physical description
Bracket clock of ebony, with face of Staffordshire enamel painted in black and crimson, bearing the name of the maker, "James Tregant, Leicester Square, LONDON". Rectangular, with "bell" top, on which is a brass handle. At the front and back are glazed doors, the openings of which are in the form of a square with semicircular projection at the top, the spandrels being filled in with rococo scrollwork in chased and pierced brass. The face is of the same form as the doors. The numerals on the dial, and the inscription, which occupies a sunk circular medallion at the top, are painted in black. The inter-spaces are filled in with rococo scrollwork and a bird in crimson. The movement is screened at the back by a brass plate engraved with symmetrical leafy strapwork.
V&A — Object history
According to Lady Charlotte Schreiber's annotations to the Schreiber catalogue, she purchased the clock from 'Waters, London' for £12 (date not stated).
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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