Clocks · Clock
Clock by Jacobus Markwick, England, 1680–1720
- Maker / attribution
- Jacobus Markwick (Maker)
- Date
- 1680–1720
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Storbritannien (GB) London
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Finsnickrat, Intarsia Ebenholts Ek
- Dimensions
- Bredd 570.0 Millimeter Djup 315.0 Millimeter
- Holding institution
- Skansen
- Accession / object no.
- SKAFOR.0016264
- Credit line
- Skansen
- Catalogue title (original)
- Ur (Swedish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Skansen (object number SKAFOR.0016264), this is a clock by Jacobus Markwick, made in Storbritannien (GB) London, England, dated 1680–1720. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Finsnickrat, Intarsia Ebenholts Ek. Recorded dimensions: Bredd 570.0 Millimeter Djup 315.0 Millimeter. The record is illustrated with 2 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
Catalogue description from Skansen
Golvur med fodral av ek fanérat med bl.a. valnöt och valnötsrot. Hög rektangulär modell på utkragad nederdel. Rakt avslutad huv med kraftigt listverk och spiralvridna hörnkolonnetter av ebenholtz, upptill och nedtill förgyllda. Huven har tre öppningsbara glasade luckor. Urverk med pendel och lod, kvadratisk urtavla av metall med förgyllda hörnbeslag. Sifferring med romerska siffror, visare av blånerat stål. Fodralets framsida har rik intarsiadekor, s.k. bloemenmarqueterie av engelsk-holländsk typ, med inläggningar i färger av olika träslag med blomsterurna, växter, tulpaner och andra blommor, fåglar m.m. På dörrens framsida ett glas i en liggande oval träram. Sidorna med inramning av stående fält. Insidan svartmålad. Graverad signatur på sifferringen: Jacobus Markwick, (eller Markwich) Londini. Golvur, tillverkat av Jacobus Markwick, London, ca. 1680-1720. Kommer från stadsbiblioteket i Alingsås och har sannolikt skänkts dit av Cl Adelsköld.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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.
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