Clocks · Longcase clock
Georgian mahogany musical longcase clock by John Carter, London
- Maker / attribution
- John Carter (maker)
- Date
- c. 1765
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 227 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 324
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 324)
- Catalogue title (original)
- THIS BEAUTIFUL GEORGIAN MAHOGANY MUSICAL LONGCASE CLOCK BY JOHN CARTER OF LONDON (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 324), this is a longcase clock by John Carter, made in London, England, dated c. 1765. 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 227 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 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 beautiful Georgian mahogany musical longcase clock by John Carter, London. This beautiful and very well proportioned musical clock plays ‘Rakes of Mallow’ and ‘Ally Croker’ on a nest of 11 bells with a further bell for striking the hours. The movement is one of the highest quality for the period having an eight day striking movement with five ringed and finned pillars. The brass and silvered dial has three subsidiary dials depicting strike/silent, the choice of two musical tunes and the subsidiary seconds dial. There is a fine looking hand painted moon phase dial to the break arch and name plate stating the makers name and location – John Carter of London above the date aperture. The silvered chapter ring with both Arabic and Roman numerals is bordered by flamboyant rococo spandrels, the dial has a brass matted centre, with attractive blued steel hands and three winding holes. The Mahogany case is very well proportioned with a pagoda top, two brass finials to either side of a conche inlay to the arched pediment, the door of the hood is flanked by fluted columns with brass capitals. The trunk is harmonised with the hood having a second larger conch inlay to the centre of the door, also flanked with fluted mouldings, capitals to the bottom and acanthus leaf capitals to the top, supported by a break front plinth and skirted foot. John Carter was a freeman of The Clockmakers Company from 1728 to 1772. Height: 89″ or 227 cm **This clock is delivered and set up for free within the UK. We regularly ship clocks all over the world with our trusted Fine Antiques Packers & Shippers. Please ask for a quote should you require this service.
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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