Clocks · Bracket clock
Johannes Ebsworth Turntable, c. 1680
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1680
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Londini Fecit
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Stock no.
- SKU 227
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 227)
- Catalogue title (original)
- JOHANNES EBSWORTH TURNTABLE (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 227), this is a bracket clock, made in Londini Fecit, dated c. 1680. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. The record is illustrated with 5 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 rare Charles II period ebony and gilt-mounted table clock with turntable base by this pre-eminent early maker. The eight day movement which strikes the hours on a single bell has a restored verge escapement and short bob pendulum. The beautifully mellow 9 ½ inch dial has cherub head and foliate corner spandrels and a chapter ring with narrow inside quarter marker band and a similar outer band for the minutes. The date work is inset above VI o’clock and there is an engraved Tudor Rose in the matted dial centre. The elegant shallow proportioned case is constructed primarily of oak and veneered with ebony on a restored turntable base. The square dial is flanked by capped barley twist columns and surmounted by finely pierced ebony frets to the entablature. The shallow caddy top has an original gilt brass mount with the monogram MR, probably of the original owner. The superb backplate and original countwheel are exquisitely engraved with tulips and foliage which are typical of the best engravers’ work of the early period. The two brass ratchets and exquisitely wrought steel clickwork for the time and strike trains are also set on the backplate below the maker’s signature, Johannes Ebsworth Londini fecit. Height including turntable: 18 in (46 cm) Depth: 9 in (23 cm) Width: 15 ¾ in (40 cm) * John Ebsworth was in the first rank of early makers who were working during the last quarter of the 17th century. He was appointed Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1697 and he made a number of very fine longcase, bracket and lantern clocks. There are clocks by him in various museums and public collections around the world. Signed / Inscribed Johannes Ebsworth Londini fecit
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
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.
Read next:FuseeAnchor (recoil) escapement
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