Clocks · Longcase clock
John Price of Chichester oak grandfather clock, c. 1775
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1775
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- oak
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 9.5 in (207 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 74
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 74)
- Catalogue title (original)
- John Price of Chichester Oak Grandfather Clock (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 74), this is a longcase clock, dated c. 1775. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 9.5 in (207 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
Just Arrived - Preview images - more to follow... A fine oak longcase clock by this prolific Clockmaker from the County of West Sussex. The movement is of 8 day duration and strikes the hours on a single bell. The London quality movement also features five pillars, date and a very useful strike/silent feature to the arch. The dial is of the transitional period displaying an engraved silvered brass centre, blued steel hands, a silvered brass chapter ring showing Roman numerals and Arabic minutes and seconds. The corners and arch of the dial showing gilt brass spandrels and the strike/silent dial. The makers name and place of work is engraved to the centre of the dial. The well proportioned oak case of good light colour has a plain base and stands on bracket feet. The trunk has a long broken arch shaped trunk door and a brass escutcheon to the lock. The hood displays solid reeded oak pillars terminating with brass Doric capitals and with plain quarter pillars to the rear and oak capitals, a typical feature of this area of the country. The hood finishes with a plain broken arch top. Note: John Price of Chichester is listed as working as a Watch and Clockmaker during the second half of the 18th century. He died in February 1791. Maker John Price of Chichester
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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