Clocks · Longcase clock
Chinoiserie longcase clock by Joseph Herring, London, c. 1770
- Maker / attribution
- Joseph Herring (maker)
- Date
- c. 1770
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- chinoiserie, tortoiseshell
- Dimensions
- Height 8 ft 2 in (249 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 418
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 418)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Chinoiserie Longcase Clock by Joseph Herring of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 418), this is a longcase clock by Joseph Herring, made in London, England, dated c. 1770. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: chinoiserie, tortoiseshell. Recorded dimensions: Height 8 ft 2 in (249 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 faux tortoiseshell lacquered longcase clock with well preserved Chinoiserie decoration. The 8 day duration 5 pillar movement striking the hours on a bell and with 12" arched brass dial with separate silvered brass chapter ring, matted centre showing both seconds, date, the makers name on a silvered brass cartouche and brass spandrels to the corners. The arch with a Strike/Silent facility and typical spandrels of the period depicting sea creatures. The restored faux tortoiseshell lacquered case with gold Chinoiserie decoration to the trunk door and base depicting houses, flowers, figures and a man playing a musical instrument. The base with a double plinth and further decoration. The hood with attached angle pillars with gilt wooden capitals, glazed access door and inspection windows to the side and a broken arch top with pagoda and three gilt wood finials. Note: Joseph Herring of London is listed as working between 1767-1810 and as Liveryman of the Clockmakers Company. In 1770 Blackfriars Bridge was built across the River Thames. It was designed by the well known architect Robert Mylne. Maker Joseph Herring of London
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:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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