Clocks · Longcase clock
Grandfather clock by Grignion, London, c. 1760
- Maker / attribution
- Grignion (maker)
- Date
- c. 1760
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 5 in (226 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 173
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 173)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Antique Grandfather Clock by Grignion of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 173), this is a longcase clock by Grignion, made in London, England, dated c. 1760. 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 7 ft 5 in (226 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
A very rare mahogany antique grandfather clock with associations to John Holmes and Daniel Quare. The 8 day duration movement with five exquisite pillars and striking the hours on a bell. The extremely rare 10" arched brass dial with separate silvered brass chapter ring, seconds ring and date aperture. The name on a cartouche to the centre. Also with strike/silent feature to the arch and large brass pendulum bob with engraved calibration nut. The fine mahogany case of typical Holmes form with long trunk door veneered with flame mahogany and with block shaped top. The panelled base with shaped double plinth and hood with reeded canted corners and concave moulded pediment with a single brass ball finial. Note: Thomas Grignions Father, another Thomas, and Grandfather Daniel Grignion are listed as finishers to the great Daniel Quare. Thomas was born in 1713 and died in 1784. There is a watch by him in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Maker Grignion of London
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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