Clocks · Bracket clock
Lancet top Scottish bracket clock by Mitchell & Russell, c. 1825
- Maker / attribution
- Mitchell & Russell (maker)
- Date
- c. 1825
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 27 in (69 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 36
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 36)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Lancet top Scottish bracket clock by Mitchell & Russell (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 36), this is a bracket clock by Mitchell & Russell, made in Scotland, dated c. 1825. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, ebony. Recorded dimensions: Height 27 in (69 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
* SPECIAL OFFER * An unusual and high quality Lancet top bracket clock by these well known Scottish clockmakers. The high quality 8 day duration double fusee movement strikes the hours on a bell and is signed to the painted dial Mitchell & Russell, Glasgow. The movement features 5 plate pillars, anchor escapement and strike/silent facility above number XII. The painted round dial has matching blued steel hands. The Lancet top case is veneered with superb flame mahogany to the front elevation and profusely inlaid with ebony throughout. Both sides feature lion head handles and brass silk lined sound frets of a gothic design. The bespoke made mahogany veneered wall bracket is complete with an access door to regulate the long pendulum. Note: Mitchell & Russell were working during the first half of the 19th century. Based on this particular clock and previous purchases it appear they used a very fine cabinet maker based somewhere in Glasgow. They were also a manufacturer of Church & Tower Clocks. Due to the longer pendulum this clock has always been on a wall bracket. We made the decision to reinstate the lost bracket using the cabinet work of the clock as a guide. Price includes delivery and 3 year guarantee Maker Mitchell & Russell
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
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:Verge escapement
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