Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Johann Conradt Beneke, 1761
- Maker / attribution
- Johann Conradt Beneke (creator)
- Date
- 1761
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Holding institution
- Geldersch Landschap & Kasteelen
- Accession / object no.
- resource_document_collectiegelderland_XEO4HMP4GBXMP5W2BUPGVCC5OGFH6WDR3DVYOWQDJ5R5KZY5V26A
- Catalogue title (original)
- Staande klok (Dutch)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Geldersch Landschap & Kasteelen (object number resource_document_collectiegelderland_XEO4HMP4GBXMP5W2BUPGVCC5OGFH6WDR3DVYOWQDJ5R5KZY5V26A), this is a longcase clock by Johann Conradt Beneke, dated 1761. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. 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 Geldersch Landschap & Kasteelen (Dutch)
Staande klok met dichte kast. De kast is eenvoudig. Het uurwerk is daarentegen wel rijker gedecoreerd. In de hoeken zijn allegorische figuren afgebeeld en bovenin staan twee putti naast een ronde. In de ronde staat een inscriptie 'Johann Conradt Beneke Hoff Uhrmacher in Suerien 1761'. Bruikleen particuliere collectie.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1701-1799
Alarm clock, Austria, 1701-1799
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1711–1827
Longcase clock by David Roentgen ( - ), England, 1711–1827
Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Clocks · 1723–1811
Table clock by Louis Montjoye, France, 1723–1811
Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Clocks · 1738–1814
Table clock by Jean Simon Bourdier, France, 1738–1814
Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Clocks · 1740-1760
Longcase clock, English, 1740-1760, japanned wood, John Ellicott
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1740–60
Tall clock by Samuel Bagnall, United States, 1740–60
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · 1750-1800
Bracket clock in metal case with scroll handles and flamed-shaped top signed by Pierre Seignoret, Clockmaket to the the Comte d'Artois
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1750
Clock by Georg Gfell, Germany, 1750
German Clock Museum