Clocks · Longcase clock
Chinoiserie decorated longcase clock by Shuckforth, Diss, c. 1750
- Maker / attribution
- Shuckforth (maker)
- Date
- c. 1750
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Diss
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- chinoiserie
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 10 in (208 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 493
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 493)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Chinoiserie decorated longcase clock by Shuckforth of Diss (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 493), this is a longcase clock by Shuckforth, made in Diss, England, dated c. 1750. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: chinoiserie. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 10 in (208 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 unusually small green Lacquered longcase clock with well preserved Chinoiserie decoration. The 8 day duration movement strikes the hours on a bell and features a recoil anchor escapement. The 12" arched brass dial has a separate silvered brass chapter ring, matted centre showing both seconds, date and blued steel hands. To the arch the makers name of Benjamin Shuckforth, Diss is displayed on a silvered brass disc. Also featuring typical brass spandrels to the corner and arch. The green lacquered case of small Norfolk proportions has typical gold Chinoiserie decoration to the trunk door and base depicting houses, flowers and figures. The base with a double plinth and further Chinoiserie decoration. The hood featuring attached angle pillars with gilt wooden capitals, glazed access door and inspection windows to the side and a plain flat top. Note: Benjamin Shuckforth appears to have been a prolific maker of Longcase clocks until he passed away in 1760. He was located in the Market Place in Diss, Norfolk. Most Lacquered longcase clocks are quite large in their design. It is thought they were all made in London. But the cabinet work of this particular clock is interesting as it appears to be following the style of the Norfolk Clockmakers which had shorter trunks and bases. Maker Shuckforth of Diss
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
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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