Clocks · Longcase clock
James II Period Marquetry Longcase Clock, c. 1685
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1685
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- marquetry
- Dimensions
- Height 201 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 5232
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 5232)
- Catalogue title (original)
- JAMES II PERIOD MARQUETRY LONGCASE CLOCK (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 5232), this is a longcase clock, made in England, dated c. 1685. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: marquetry. Recorded dimensions: Height 201 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 — Howard Walwyn
A fine James II period 10 inch brass dial panelled marquetry longcase clock. The elegant early case is constructed of oak and pine and veneered in walnut with ebonised and walnut mouldings. There are inset panels of floral and foliate marquetry to the trunk and base, centred by birds perched on branches. The hood has a flat-top cornice with an ebonised cushion moulding above a boldly carved frieze of scrolling acanthus and floral decoration and it is flanked by a pair of well-carved ebonised barley-twist columns with gilded capitals and bases. The pendulum is visible through the circular lenticle with brass bezel. The 10-inch square brass dial has a finely matted centre with a subsidiary seconds ring below XII and a square calendar aperture above VI. It is mounted with a silvered brass chapter ring with bold Roman hour numerals, Arabic five-minute markers and decorative fleur-de-lys half-hour indicators. There are four boldly cast cherub head foliate spandrels to each corner. The clock retains its finely pierced and shaped steel hands. The substantial high-quality movement is of 8-day duration, has six knopped pillars and hour strike via an outside count wheel . The clock is complete with its flat topped brass cased weights and lenticular brass pendulum bob. Height : 79 in (201 cm) Width : 15 ¼ in (38.8 cm) Depth : 9 ½ in (24.1 cm) * This elegant small longcase is very rare in remaining so untouched after more than 330 years. The walnut and marquetry decorated case is a very mellow muted colour having never been repolished and it thus has beautiful patination. HW6643
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
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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