Clocks · Clock
Clock by George Clarke, England, c.1750
- Maker / attribution
- George Clarke (made)
- Date
- c.1750
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- mother of pearl, wood, clock making
- Dimensions
- Height: 33.5 cm (handle upright); Height: 30.5 cm (handle down); Width: 17.5 cm; Depth: 13.7 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.112-1978
- Credit line
- Given by Commander and Mrs Osbert Leveson Gower, Dorset
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.112-1978), this is a clock by George Clarke, made in London, 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: mother of pearl, wood, clock making. Recorded dimensions: Height: 33.5 cm (handle upright); Height: 30.5 cm (handle down); Width: 17.5 cm; Depth: 13.7 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
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
George Clarke (fl. 1725-1740) of Leadenhall Street designed many clocks for the Turkish market. This example was indeed bought in Constantinople in the 1870s by the Arthur Leveson Gower (father of the donor) whilst on diplomatic service there. The silver dial has Turkish numerals and gilt spandrels, calender and pendulum apertures, subsiduary strike silent dial, pull repeat, striking on six bells. The case is bell topped. This clock is in its original wooden carrying case.
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Bracket clock, mother of pearl with gilt finials and ormolu mounts. Silver dial with Turkish numerals and gilt spandrels, calender and pendulum apertures, subsiduary strike silent dial, pull repeat, striking on six bells, the bell top case with gilt finials and ormolu mounts. In original wooden carrying case.
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Bracket clock of mother of pearl with gilt finials and ormolu mounts. Made by George Clarke, London, about 1750
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
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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