
Clocks · Clock
Clock, Bone China with transfer printing, Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Barlaston, ca. 1995 (V&A WE.18793-2014)
- Maker / attribution
- Josiah Wedgwood and Sons (Manufacturers)
- Date
- ca. 1995
- Historical period
- Mechanical Renaissance (1990 – 2010)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Barlaston
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Bone china with transfer printing
- Dimensions
- Height: 84 mm; Length: 74 mm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- WE.18793-2014
- Credit line
- V&A Wedgwood Collection. Presented by Art Fund with major support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, private donations and a public appeal.
- Catalogue title (original)
- Sarah
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number WE.18793-2014), this is a clock by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, made in Barlaston, dated ca. 1995. The Atlas places it in the Mechanical Renaissance period (1990 – 2010) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Bone china with transfer printing. Recorded dimensions: Height: 84 mm; Length: 74 mm. 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
V&A — Physical description
Clock, Bone China with transfer printing. Clock has an arch shape. Front of clock has printed pink floral decoration with a yellow background and a blue band below. Clock face with black text and hands. Foot and back are white, with gold around foot and edge of clock front.
Inscriptions & marks
B' (marked in gold); 'WEDGWOOD' (printed in black on clock face); 'QUARTZ' (printed in black on clock face)
Historical context
Mechanical Renaissance (1990 – 2010)
Mechanical watches return as cultural objects; independent watchmaking flourishes.
Mechanical clocks returned as luxury and craft objects, alongside radio-controlled and designer quartz clocks. Independent makers and restorers revived traditional techniques, and museums increasingly documented industrial and electric clocks as heritage.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Quartz Revolution
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.
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