Clocks · Bracket clock
Egyptian influence mantel clock, c. 1875
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1875
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Dimensions
- Height 17.5 in (44 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 544
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 544)
- Catalogue title (original)
- A high quality Egyptian influence mantel clock (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 544), this is a bracket clock, dated c. 1875. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 17.5 in (44 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 — P A Oxley
An exceptional quality marble and slate mantel clock with superbly made bronzes by Miroy Requier & Co of Paris & London. The typical of the period French 8 day movement strikes the hours and the half hours on a mounted gong. The marble/slate dial features brass hands, gold Roman numerals and a central rouge coloured marble insert. The dial is framed within a brass bezel and a thick bevelled glass The mostly black marble and slate case is extremely heavy and beautifully crafted. The central part of the case is decorated again with rouge coloured marble and is typical of the Egyptian revival period. The three exceptional quality bronzes are depicting the Egyptian Sphinx. A mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion and the wings of a Falcon. Two of them are sat upright to the sides with wings and looking forward and the larger central bronze is lying down and looking to the right. The quality of these bronzes is exceptional and all of them are in perfect condition. The case has been carefully cleaned and polished where required. There are some small chips to the corners of the case but these are to be expected from this type of medium and do not detract from the overall look of the clock at all. The movement is in its original unrestored state and in working order but a full overhaul and service will be carried out before delivery. It will then be guaranteed for 3 years An excellent example. Note: Ernest Miroy the second son of Jean Baptiste Marie Miroy, married Josephine Requier and moved to London with his cousin Adolph Victor Miroy in 1860, where he traded under the name Miroy-Requier. Both branches of the Miroy Frees were clockmakers and bronziers, and the side remaining in France ran their business from 10 Rue d'Angouleme, Paris. They exhibited at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, London in 1851 and also at the Great Exhibition, Paris in 1855. Queen Victoria purchased a large number of objects and bronzes from Miroy Requier for the interiors and gardens at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific 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.
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