Clocks · Longcase clock
Daniel Delander, London, Walnut Longcase Clock, c. 1710
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1710
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- walnut
- Stock no.
- SKU 79
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 79)
- Catalogue title (original)
- DANIEL DELANDER, LONDON, WALNUT LONGCASE CLOCK (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 79), this is a longcase clock, made in England, dated c. 1710. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: walnut. The record is illustrated with 4 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 Queen Anne period figured walnut longcase clock with square shaped dial and caddy top by this famous apprentice of Thomas Tompion. The case is veneered with figured walnut of excellent colour and patination. The pull-forward caddy top hood is flanked by veneered, turned pillars with brass capitals. The caddy top is original and is surmounted by two gilt balls finials. The 12 inch square dial has an applied chapter ring with cherubs holding a crown corner spandrels. The centre is finely matted with an applied seconds ring and an aperture to view the day of the month. The blued steel pointers are finely pierced and the maker’s signature – Daniel Delander, London – is engraved on the chapter ring between V and VII. The five pillar movement has rack striking with the hours sounded on a bell. As one would expect from a maker of Delander’s stature the movement is of the highest quality with chamfered cocks and thick plates. Height: 94 in (238.75 cm) Daniel Delander was born circa 1678 and his workshop was situated in Deveraux Court and later between the two Temple gates. He had served the latter part of his apprenticeship under Thomas Tompion where he worked as a “servant” journeyman alongside George Graham. Hence the fact that there are a number of similarities between his work and that of the two greatest English clockmakers after Fromanteel.
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
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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