Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Joseph Jackman, England, 1680–1700
- Maker / attribution
- Joseph Jackman (designed and made by)
- Date
- 1680–1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- oak, walnut, sycamore, marquetry, veneering
- Dimensions
- Height: 17.1 cm; Width: 50.2 cm; Depth: 27 cm; Weight: 6.75 kg (W.11:6 weight 10/10/2025 NH); Weight: 6.8 kg (W.11:5 weight 10/10/2025 NH)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.11:7-1927
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.11:7-1927), this is a longcase clock by Joseph Jackman, made in England, dated 1680–1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: oak, walnut, sycamore, marquetry, veneering. Recorded dimensions: Height: 17.1 cm; Width: 50.2 cm; Depth: 27 cm; Weight: 6.75 kg (W.11:6 weight 10/10/2025 NH); Weight: 6.8 kg (W.11:5 weight 10/10/2025 NH). 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
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Longcase clock in oak case, veneered with walnut and decorated with floral marquetry. The dial bears the name "Jos.Jackman London Bridge" and has spandrel ornament engraved with cherubs' heads: the hour hand is pierced and foliated. The frieze of the hood is of embossed and painted tin, and at the angles are twisted columns, supported on a convex moulding. The door is inlaid with a vase of flowers and acanthus scrolls in stained woods on an ebonised ground; the plinth, decorated in a similar manner, has been slightly shortened. In the centre of the doors is a glazed circular opening in a framing of brass. The sides are veneered with walnut and inlaid with lines of sycamore.
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Longcase clock, English, 1680-1700, Joseph Jackman
Provenance
Joseph Jackman, Charles II, grandfather clock purchased from A P Cross, executor of the late Kate Charlotte Cross for £84 Notes from R.P.852 - 1927 September 1926 letter, A P Cross to Museum Offers "a fine Charles 2nd Grandfather clock English marquetry by Joseph Jackman London Bridge in original condition" for £84. 17 January 1927 letter, A P Cross to H E Read encloses photograph of the clock (very faded - on file in R.P.) 19 January 1927 minute, Ralph Edwards reports that Joseph Jackman is listed in Britten as working on London Bridge about 1690 "If the clock is….a good example. I regard the price, £84 as …..exceptional". 25 January 1927 minute, Oliver Brackett to the Director It is likely that this is a good, and perhaps important, English marquetry clock of the Stuart period, should inspect. 31 January 1927 minute, Ralph Edwards reports that this is "a good specimen of a marquetry long case clock, about 1685. It is not of the finest quality, and the condition leaves something to be desired, but it has the great merit that its marquetry is distinctly English in character of the hall over type, an interesting companion with our (Mansell) Burnett clock….In the marquetry of (?) it will be found that marquetry has been relaid, whereas this clock is practically in original condition." He also notes that the frieze is of painted tin and fret cut wood as is the ….Burnett clock. 4 February 1927 minute, Brackett to the Director reports that according to Britten's "Old Clocks & Watc
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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