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Clocks · Furniture

Longcase clock

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
c.1715 - c.1725
Historical period
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Country of origin
Netherlands
Place
Amsterdam Amsterdam urn:rijksmuseum:thesaurus:RM0001.THESAU.41 Amsterdam Amsterdam urn:rijksmuseum:thesaurus:RM0001.THESAU.41
Object type
Furniture
Materials / technique
wood (plant material) oak (wood) ebony (wood) walnut (hardwood) brass (alloy) tin (metal) mother of pearl glass
Dimensions
height 284.5 cm height 260.0 cm width 52.0 cm depth 26.5 cm
Holding institution
Rijksmuseum
Accession / object no.
BK-1969-102-A
Credit line
Rijksmuseum
Catalogue title (original)
Longcase clock (English)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by Rijksmuseum (object number BK-1969-102-A), this is a furniture, made in Amsterdam Amsterdam urn:rijksmuseum:thesaurus:RM0001.THESAU.41 Amsterdam Amsterdam urn:rijksmuseum:thesaurus:RM0001.THESAU.41, Netherlands, dated c.1715 - c.1725. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: wood (plant material) oak (wood) ebony (wood) walnut (hardwood) brass (alloy) tin (metal) mother of pearl glass. Recorded dimensions: height 284.5 cm height 260.0 cm width 52.0 cm depth 26.5 cm. 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 from Rijksmuseum

This exceptional clock case is veneered with boulle-work, a form of marquetry using various metals and tortoiseshell. This technique was rarely practised in the Netherlands. Perhaps the clock was made by a French or German cabinetmaker active for a few years in Amsterdam. It houses a complex clock movement that can play fourteen melodies on seven separate music rolls, all of which survive.

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

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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