Clocks · Clock
Clock by Orpheus Sumart, London, c. 1735
- Maker / attribution
- Orpheus Sumart (maker)
- Date
- c. 1735
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- Height 132 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 112
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 112)
- Catalogue title (original)
- ORPHEUS SUMART, CLERKENWELL. AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE, EARLY OCTAGONAL DIAL TAVERN TIMEPIECE BY THIS WELL-KNOWN EARLY MAKER. (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 112), this is a clock by Orpheus Sumart, made in London, England, dated c. 1735. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 132 cm. 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
Dealer description — Howard Walwyn
An exceptionally rare, early octagonal dial Tavern Timepiece by this well-known early maker. The exceptional case is in a very original state of preservation, retaining virtually all its black and raised gilt lacquer Chinoiserie decoration. It is decorated onto pine, as one would expect on a piece of George II lacquer furniture at the end of the early period. The case also has a number of very unusual features: the detachable trunk front and bombé shaped base with raised gilt lenticle, the gilt foliate ears at the base of the trunk door, the offset winding arbor and the absence of side viewing doors for the movement. The sides of the case are decorated with the more usual sprays of chrysanthemums. The flat wood dial has a bold convex edge moulding with gilt foliate decoration and the maker’s signature. The chapter ring is very well laid out with Roman hours and outside five minute marks. The replaced brass hands have spade-shaped tips, the minute with counterpoise. The original eight day A-shaped movement has a long pendulum which hangs from the front plate and has an offset central winding arbor. Height: 52 in (132 cm) Dial width: 29 in (73.5 cm) Depth: 7 ½ in (19 cm) * This clock is one of the earliest and best preserved examples of a tavern clock with an octagonal dial that we have seen and is only the second one of this rare from by Orpheus Sumart that we have seen. Provenance: A private English collector Signed / Inscribed Orpheus Sumart. Clerkenwell
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 · 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 · 1611
English iron lantern clock, with wheel balance, by John Holloway, Market Lavington, Wiltshire, England, 1611.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1630
Lantern clock by Francis Forman, England, 1630
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1632–1640
Turret clock, England, 1632–1640
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1645–1655
Balance-wheel brass lantern clock, with two driving weights and one counterweight, by Thomas Knifton, Cross Keys, Lothbury, London, England, 1645–1655.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1650
Lantern alarm clock, silver, by David Bouquet, circa 1650
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1650–1660
Lantern clock by Peter Closon, England, 1650–1660
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1660
Longcase clock, c. 1660, English, made by Ahasuerus Fromanteel
Victoria and Albert Museum, London