Clocks · Longcase clock
Lewes grandfather clock by William Kemp, c. 1760
- Maker / attribution
- William Kemp (maker)
- Date
- c. 1760
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, oak
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 206
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 206)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Lewes Antique Grandfather Clock by William Kemp (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 206), this is a longcase clock by William Kemp, made in England, dated c. 1760. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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
An excellent oak antique grandfather clock of small proportions by this well known Lewes Clockmaker. The high quality 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell and with five plate pillars. The 12" arched brass dial with separate silvered brass chapter ring, seconds ring, date aperture, matted centre, makers name and with separate dial to the arch featuring a Strike/Silent facility. The dial also with very finely made blued steel hands. The typical Lewes oak case with mahogany crossbanding to both the long trunk door and to the plain base which is finished with a single plinth. The hood with gilt wood capitals to the attached angle pillars and broken arch top. Note: William Kemp was born in 1722. The well known Lewes Clockmaker Richard Comber was apprenticed to him from 1754 to 1762 and also John Holman who went into partnership with him from 1787 to 1797. His shop was in Bull Lane in 1790 and he died in 1798. Maker William Kemp
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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