Clocks · Longcase clock
Early 18th century Chinoiserie lacquered longcase clock
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1705
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Dimensions
- Height 256 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 1198
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 1198)
- Catalogue title (original)
- EARLY 18th CENTURY CHINOISERIE LACQUERED LONGCASE CLOCK (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 1198), this is a longcase clock, made in England, dated c. 1705. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 256 cm. The record is illustrated with 6 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 — The Antique Clock Company
A Stunning Early 18 th Century Chinoiserie Lacquered Longcase by John Hocker of Reading The extremely impressive English Chinoiserie case is decorated with gilt figures, buildings, animals, birds and foliage on a red and black ground. The original case in the classic style for the period has inverted cheek mouldings and sits upon the solid double plinth. The high domed inverted bell top is complete with beautifully decorated doric columns and painted capitals, all flanked by decorative ball finials on short pedestals and with pierced wood foliate sound frets. The 12” square brass dial has a wheatear border, crown and cherub head spandrels and silvered brass chapters. The main chapter ring is engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute divisions. The matted centre with ringed winding holes, chamfered aperture to the silvered calendar and finely cut blued steel hands. The substantial 8-day movement has 5 pillars, an anchor escapement with seconds pendulum and an internal count wheel striking the hours on a single bell. Made by the accomplished senior Clockmaker Jon Hocker, registered as working 1678 to 1710. Height: 101″ or 256cm
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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