Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Denton, Hull, c. 1780
- Maker / attribution
- Denton (maker)
- Date
- c. 1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Hull
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, rosewood
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 5 in (226 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 202
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 202)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Longcase Clock by Denton of Hull (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 202), this is a longcase clock by Denton, made in Hull, England, dated c. 1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, rosewood. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 5 in (226 cm). The record is illustrated with 5 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 early painted dial longcase clock with an exceptionally high quality case. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell. The painted arched white dial showing seconds, date, blued steel hands and with beautifully painted corners with flowers, foliage and raised gold work. The arch with an open pink rose, foliage and further gold work. The makers name painted to the centre of the dial surrounded by Roman numerals and Arabic minutes. The very high quality case with exceptional flame mahogany veneer to both the trunk door and base. The trunk also with reeded canted corners and ivory escutcheon to the trunk door lock. The panelled base with rosewood crossbanding and bracket feet. The hood with Corinthian Capitals to the reeded pillars and further rosewood crossbanding to the hood door. The inlaid pagoda top with two brass finials. Note: A very well known maker in the East Riding area. He was married to Elizabeth Cayley in 1781 and worked in Silver Street. A prolific maker of longcase clocks. There is a Fusee Wall Clock by this maker in the Castle Museum, York. Maker Denton of Hull
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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