Clocks · Clock
Clock by William Goodwin, England, Late 17th century
- Maker / attribution
- William Goodwin (Clock-maker)
- Date
- Late 17th century
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Stowmarket
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Cast and engraved brass
- Dimensions
- Depth: 15 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.39-1932
- Credit line
- Given by Charles Lamb of Brixton in memory of his parents
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.39-1932), this is a clock by William Goodwin, made in Stowmarket, England, dated Late 17th century. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Cast and engraved brass. Recorded dimensions: Depth: 15 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
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
A Lantern clock of engraved brass, made by William Goodwin of Stowmarket, Suffolk, late 17th century. Of European origin, lantern clocks were first made in England in the 1620s and continued as a popular domestic form until the late 18th century. The origin of the term Lantern probably stems from its resemblance to this domestic form of portable lighting, but may also derive from a corruption of the word latten meaning brass. Such clocks are driven by weights which hang freely below the case.
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Lantern form bracket clock in brass with a posted frame, with top and bottom plates 5 3/4” square. Plain pivoted side doors. Pierced frets above front and sides, that at the front engraved. With engraved dial and pierced and engraved crestings, four ball feet and baluster finials at the corners surmounting the bell straps; dial with chapter-ring 6 ½” diameter, 1 ½ broad, elongated Roman hour numerals, half and quarter hour marks. The centre of the dial is engraved with leafy scrolls and signed 'W.Goodwin Stow Markett'. The single pierced iron hand has a tail. The movement has a going train at the front with anchor escapement, an escape wheel of 42T, and pallets spanning 9T. Locking-plate striking train at rear, with renewed count-wheel. Spiked pulleys, with a ratchet on the strike train only.
Historical context — Victoria and Albert Museum
Lantern clocks are usually made of brass as this metal was easier to work than steel, did not rust, and could be kept clean by lacquering.
Inscriptions & marks
W: Goodwin Stow Markett (1) Makers's mark 2) Signature 3) Decoration)
Provenance
Given by Mr Charles Lamb of Brixton “in memory of his parents”.
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.
Read next:Verge escapementFoliot
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