Clocks · Clock
Clock, 1700–1800
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1700–1800
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- iron (metal), tin (metal), glass
- Dimensions
- height 35.5 cm; width 11.7 cm x width 11.7 cm
- Holding institution
- Rijksmuseum
- Accession / object no.
- BK-NM-11327
- Credit line
- Gift of J.A. Frederiks, The Hague
- Catalogue title (original)
- Olielamp van tin, dienst doende als klok (Dutch)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Rijksmuseum (object number BK-NM-11327), this is a clock, dated 1700–1800. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: iron (metal), tin (metal), glass. Recorded dimensions: height 35.5 cm; width 11.7 cm x width 11.7 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
Description — Rijksmuseum (Dutch)
Olielamp van tin, die gebruikt kan worden als klok. De ijzeren voet is vierkantig, omgekeerd conisch en vertoont sporen van zwarte en rode verf. Midden op de voet loopt een cylindrische schacht omhoog, waarop de tinnen olielamp is geplaatst. De olielamp begint onderaan met een conische schacht, waarboven twee flauwe nodi te zien zijn. Daarboven de tuit en de glazen lamp. Het omringende tinnen frame heeft aan een zijde een handvat. De andere zijde is gedecoreerd met Romeinse cijfers.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Description — Rijksmuseum (Dutch)
Olielamp, spaarlampje van tin met glazen gegradueerd reservoir op gegoten ijzeren voet.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
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
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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.
Related records
Clocks · Early 17th century
Table clock, probably Denmark, early 17th century
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1590–1610
Clock, France, 1590–1610
MAK – Museum of Applied Arts
Clocks · c. 1600
Table Clock, sheet brass, engraved, pierced and gilt, Paris, ca.1600, signed 'B(?) Pichard, à Paris'
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1598–1603
Circular table-clock with calendrical and lunar indications made by Nicholas Vallin in London between 1598 and 1603.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1600–1699
Clock by Joannes Volcker, Belgium, 1600–1699 (no. AP_10156031)
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage
Clocks · 1600–1699
Clock by Joannes Volcker, Belgium, 1600–1699 (no. AP_10156032)
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage
Clocks · 1600–1699
Clock attributed to Jobst Bürgi, Czech Republic, 1600–1699
Fine Arts Museum Vienna
Clocks · 1600–1700
Clock, Germany, 1600–1700
Victoria and Albert Museum, London