Clocks · Longcase clock
Burr walnut veneered longcase clock by Chater, London, c. 1740
- Maker / attribution
- Chater (maker)
- Date
- c. 1740
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- burr walnut
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 2 in (218 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 475
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 475)
- Catalogue title (original)
- 18th Century burr walnut veneered longcase clock by Chater of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 475), this is a longcase clock by Chater, made in London, England, dated c. 1740. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: burr walnut. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 2 in (218 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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
Dealer description — P A Oxley
An excellent 18th century London longcase clock displaying features to the cabinet work as used by Tompion and Quare. The 8 day duration 5 pillar movement striking the hours on a bell with the rack striking method and a recoil anchor escapement. The full brass dial has a separate silvered brass chapter ring, matted centre, seconds, date, blued steel hands and the makers name and place of work to the arch. The silvered brass signature roundel is framed either side with Dolphin spandrels to the arch. The exceptional walnut veneered case is in excellent condition and features high quality burr walnut veneer to both the trunk door and base panel. Also with typical cross-grained mouldings and cross-banded flame walnut veneer throughout the case. The base has a plain double plinth. The hood with unusual burr walnut veneered pillars and brass Doric capitals of typical Tompion and Quare design. Also with quarter veneered pillars to the rear of the hood and glass viewing panels to the sides. The flat top has well cut blind sound frets to the front of the hood. Note: James Chater was born in 1704 and apprenticed in 1718. He became a member of the Clockmaker's Company in 1727. and died in 1762. He was in partnership with his son from 1754 onwards, when work was signed James Chater & Son. Their business was at 3 Cherry Tree Court, Aldersgate. The cabinet work of this clock has features that point towards the Tompion and Quare workshop. The veneered trunk door is of exceptional quality as are the Doric capitals to the hood and the burr walnut veneered hood pillars. Maker Chater of London
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
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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.
Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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