Clocks · Longcase clock
Georgian longcase clock by Moxon, Bradford on Avon, c. 1800
- Maker / attribution
- Moxon (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Bradford on Avon
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 560
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 560)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Rare Georgian Longcase Clock by Moxon of Bradford on Avon (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 560), this is a longcase clock by Moxon, made in Bradford on Avon, England, dated c. 1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 5 in (196 cm). 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 — P A Oxley
An extremely rare Georgian longcase clock of small proportions and a very unusual dial format showing both Arabic and Roman Numerals. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a single bell and featuring matching blued steel hands to the silvered brass dial and the makers name, Joseph Moxon, Bradford (Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire). Also featuring seconds and one of the most unusual dial layouts we have even seen. The quarter hours are engraved with Roman numerals and the hours in between are displayed as Arabic. In over 50 years of dealing in antique longcase clocks we have never seen this before. The delightful case is of small proportions and has retained its original patina and colour from the last 200 years. The hood features a broken arch top, brass reeded canted corners and a glazed opening door. The trunk door is veneered with figured mahogany and the base has an applied shaped moulding and a shaped double plinth. Note: With the combination of the small stature of this clock, the unusual dial layout, the beautiful faded colour of the case and the fact that it has local interest for us here in Wiltshire. It is indeed, a rather rare example.
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
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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