Clocks · Clock
Clock, late 18th century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- late 18th century
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- ormolu and enamel
- Dimensions
- Height: 10.4 in; Width: 8.2 in
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.159-1921
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by D. M. Currie
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.159-1921), this is a clock, dated late 18th century. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ormolu and enamel. Recorded dimensions: Height: 10.4 in; Width: 8.2 in. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Case: Drum shaped on an oblong plinth with four feet, surmounted by a basket of fruit and flowers, the body encircled by a wreath of laurel with a bunch of fruit and flowers suspended from a ring on either side. The plinth is enriched with three panels of foliage in relief. The centre one flanked by rosettes. Dial: Enamel dial 8.3cm diameter, slightly convex. The hours are marked with Roman numerals, and the minute divisions are marked every 5 minutes on the outside of the dial. There are also dots in place of divisions at every 5. The winding holes are located at IIII VIII, with an additional regulator hole at 60. Signed Chles Du Tertre A Paris on interior. The gilt hands are pierced. Movement: The brass movement plates are 8.3cm diameter, the backplate signed 'Chles Dutertre A Paris'. The going train is set with a going barrel, with a tic-tac escapement, and an escape wheel of 34T, pallets spanning 3T. The pendulum is 12.7cm long, with a flat bob, circular with a part cut away at the bottom. Regulated by wound-up cord. The locking plate striking train, with the count-wheel and going barrel allow for a single stroke every half-hour.
Provenance
David M. Currie Bequest
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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