Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Joseph Davis, England, c.1740
- Maker / attribution
- Joseph Davis (made)
- Date
- c.1740
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- Wooden case with japanned and gilded decoration; dial of brass with silvering
- Dimensions
- Height: 211.5 cm; Width: 47.6 cm; Depth: 23.9 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.29:1to3-1911
- Credit line
- Given by Lionel Harris
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.29:1to3-1911), this is a longcase clock by Joseph Davis, made in London, England, dated c.1740. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Wooden case with japanned and gilded decoration; dial of brass with silvering. Recorded dimensions: Height: 211.5 cm; Width: 47.6 cm; Depth: 23.9 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
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
Before the effects of age and oxydisation dulled its colour, this green and gold clock would have been spectacularly colourful. It would have appealed strongly to the eighteenth-century taste for items in the Chinese taste (Chinoiserie), although the taste was more for an imagined idea of Chinese decoration. Long-case clocks, of course, were an entirely European invention. The case is lined inside with paper stamped with Chinese scenes on a gilt ground, to increase its appeal and suit the varnished ('japanned') outer case that was a European imitation of Asian lacquer, using varnishes and gold leaf, rather than traditional lacquer. Joseph Davis seems to have specialized in clocks with such colourful cases. He would have made the clockwork and would have bought in the case from a cabinet maker who specialized in making such cases. The donor of this clock said that it had been bought in Spain and it may have been sent there when it was new. London-made clocks were esteemed throughout Europe and were particularly popular in Spain and the Scandinavian states.
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
A long-case clock with green and gold japanned case, decorated with Chinoiserie motifs, the arched hood surrounding a brass dial with silvered chapter ring, the dial signed in a circular dial plate, 'Joseph Davis, London'. The brass dial plate is enriched with mounts of masks, dolphins and scrollwork. The case is simply made with mouldings and is decorated in lacquer on the hinged door and base with sprays of flowers, figures (one on horseback) and a building; in the middle of the door is a circular panel of glass. The surface is further enriched with slight outline leafy and floral designs. The case is lined inside with paper stamped with Chinese secenes on a gilt ground. There is a lock and key. Hood restored: surface considerably damaged especially on the base. Lining paper worn; back of case pierced with holes.
Inscriptions & marks
Joseph Davis / London
Provenance
Gift from Lionel Harris (The Spanish Art Gallery, 50 Conduit St. W1). RP 1911/1896. Said to have been purchased in Spain. This is entirely credible and japanned clocks were a major export from London in the middle of the 18th century and Spaniards were keen buyers, as were Scandinavians, with many such clocks surviving in those places. Other clocks by Davis have gone through auctions and dealer sales in recent years. A black japanned clock by him was sold by Christie's, London, from the Dufferin and Ava collection, on 25 March 1999, lot 326. The case was close in form to the V&A clock, but with an additional cresting layer, which possibly the V&A clock originally had. In 2015 a black-japanned clock by Davis was offered in Stacey's Auction, Essex Auction Room, and dated to the 19th century, although it was almost certainly of the same date as the V&A clock. In 2017 the dealer Nick Brock of Dallas, Texas, showed another black-japanned clock, but that one without the glass panel in the centre of the case door, and with a different shaping to the top of the hood. These three clocks suggest that Davis specialized in supplying clocks with japanned cases. From 1952 this clock was on loan to Hogarth's House, Chiswick, for some years.
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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