Clocks · Clock
Clock by Rutter, London, c. 1790
- Maker / attribution
- Rutter (maker)
- Date
- c. 1790
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- Height 101.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 111
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 111)
- Catalogue title (original)
- RUTTER, CANNON STREET, A FINE AND UNUSUALLY SMALL LACQUERED TAVERN TIMEPIECE (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 111), this is a clock by Rutter, made in London, England, dated c. 1790. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 101.5 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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
A fine and unusually small, lacquered Tavern Timepiece by a London maker. The case is of traditional style with round white dial supported by scrolling ears and with moulded foot. It is decorated with well-drawn chinoiserie on a black ground with an oriental figure on the trunk door, all in gilt and shades of brown. Above the door is the elegantly written signature with leaves, flowers and drapes to the ears and trunk edges. The trunk sides are filled with sprays of chrysanthemum. The flat wood dial, which is turned from a single piece of oak, has a narrow edge moulding with a gilt band. The chapter ring is very well laid out with Roman hours and outside five minute marks. The brass hands have spade-shaped tips, the minute with counterpoise. The eight day movement has a long pendulum and oval lead weight. Height: 40 in (101.5 cm) Dial Width: 16 in (41 cm) * There is a virtually identical clock by Perigal, Bond Street, London featured as the frontispiece in ‘English Dial Clocks’ by Ronald E. Rose and it was probably made by the same cabinet maker. Signed / Inscribed Rutter CANNON STREET
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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