Clocks · Lantern clock
Lantern clock by Arthur Davis
- Maker / attribution
- Arthur Davis (maker)
- Date
- c. 1670
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Lantern clock
- Dimensions
- Overall: 400 x 175 x 200 mm
- Holding institution
- Royal Museums Greenwich
- Accession / object no.
- ZAA0071
- Credit line
- National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
- Catalogue title (original)
- Lantern clock (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Royal Museums Greenwich (object number ZAA0071), this is a lantern clock by Arthur Davis, dated c. 1670. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Overall: 400 x 175 x 200 mm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Catalogue description — Royal Museums Greenwich
This domestic hour-striking 'lantern' clock would originally have kept time using a balance-wheel underneath the bell on the top of the clock. It would have run for 18 hours with two separate weights (one to drive the timekeeping mechanism and one to drive the hour-striking), and would have had a verge escapement. It was at some stage converted to pendulum control using a long pendulum with anchor escapement, and later, to the present shorter pendulum. It was common for balance-wheel domestic clocks to be converted to pendulum control, which was much more accurate. It still only has one hand (the hour-hand) as originally it would not have been accurate enough to warrant the inclusion of a minute-hand.
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
Lantern, chamber and Gothic clocks
Domestic weight-driven clocks were made in southern Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Flanders from the fifteenth century. These 'Gothic' or chamber clocks have an open iron frame with corner posts, a verge escapement controlled by a foliot or balance wheel, and often an alarm or hour striking on a bell mounted above.
In England the lantern clock appeared around 1600: a brass posted-frame clock with a bell on top under decorative frets, hung on a hook or set on a wall bracket. After about 1658 many were converted to pendulum control, so originality of the escapement is a key question for any surviving example.
What to look for
- Iron (continental) or brass (English) posted frames with turned corner pillars and finials.
- A single hour hand — minute hands are rare before the pendulum era.
- Evidence of conversion: plugged holes, replaced escapement wheels or later pendulums.
- Fret designs and engraving on the dial centre, which help date English lantern clocks.
Dating clues
- Continental Gothic chamber clocks: c. 1450–1650.
- English lantern clocks: c. 1600–1720, with provincial examples later.
- Short 'bob' pendulum conversions after 1658; long pendulums with anchor escapement after c. 1670.
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:Foliot
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