Clocks · Bracket clock
Ebonised quarter repeating table clock by Richard Peckover, London
- Maker / attribution
- Richard Peckover (maker)
- Date
- c. 1735
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 47 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 2630
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 2630)
- Catalogue title (original)
- EBONISED QUARTER REPEATING TABLE CLOCK – RICHARD PECKOVER – LONDON (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 2630), this is a bracket clock by Richard Peckover, made in London, England, dated c. 1735. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ebonised. Recorded dimensions: Height 47 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 — The Antique Clock Company
A George II quarter repeating table clock by Richard Peckover. The gilt-brass bound inverted bell-top case surmounted by a gilded knopped carrying handle is veneered with fruitwood with an ebonised finish. The break arch brass dial is 7” square and mounted with a silvered chapter ring and mask head spandrels. There are three subsidiary dials, one for rise and fall regulation, another for strike/silent are inset into the chapter ring, and in the arch is a silvered ring indicating the day of the month. The centre is finely matted with an aperture for the false pendulum and an aperture containing the silvered, engraved cartouche bearing the maker’s signature “R. Peckover London” beneath. The twin fusee with eight-day duration movement has five knopped pillars, original verge escapement and a quarter repeating mechanism with the quarters sounded on six graduated bells, with the hours on a separate bell. The back plate is beautifully engraved with the maker’s signature “Richard Peckover London” with foliate scrolls, birds and urns. There is the nice addition of two labels attached to the inside of the rear door from Hart Bros. Jewellers & Watchmakers, Muswell Hill, London dated 1918, 1936 and 1940. A further circular label is on the left rear door jamb for Steinmann, London no.153. Richard Peckover: Richard Peckover is believed to have taken over the business of Daniel Quare and Stephen Horseman in 1733. He worked at Change Alley in 1735 and then at Royal Exchange until 1754. This particular clock is typical of the clocks produced by Quare and Horseman. It follows their design in all respects which suggests it was made in their workshop and inherited by Peckover when he took over the business. Height: 18 ½″ or 47cm (Handle up) *This clock is delivered and set up for free within the UK. We regularly ship clocks all over the world with our approved and well-established Antiques and Fine Art Packers & Shippers. Please ask for a quote should you require this service.
Provenance
Private collection U.K.
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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) escapement
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