Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Robert Dingley, London, c. 1695–1700
- Maker / attribution
- Robert Dingley (maker)
- Date
- c. 1695–1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Dimensions
- Height 202 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 76
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 76)
- Catalogue title (original)
- ROBERT DINGLEY. A FINE WILLIAM III PERIOD 8-DAY LONGCASE CLOCK. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 76), this is a longcase clock by Robert Dingley, made in London, England, dated c. 1695–1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 202 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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 — Howard Walwyn
A fine William III period floral marquetry and walnut 8-Day longcase clock. The case is constructed primarily of oak and veneered with walnut and panels of bird and floral marquetry against an ebony ground. The cross-grain mouldings are in ebonised pine. Standing on bun feet the clock retains its original base and there is an ebonised lenticle to the trunk door. The hood with front-opening door is flanked by ebonised barley twist columns and there is a delicate walnut sound fret set below the moulded cornice. The 11 inch square brass dial is mounted with cherub and foliate spandrels and a silvered chapter ring. The dial centre is finely matted with ringed winding holes and an aperture to view the day of the month above VI. The maker’s signature is inscribed between VII and V on the chapter ring. The blued steel hands are finely pierced and faceted. The high quality 8-day duration movement has five ringed pillars and the hours are sounded on a bell via an inside locking plate. Height: 79 ½ in (202 cm) * Robert Dingley was born in 1647 and became free of the Clockmakers’ Company and the City. He signed the Oath of Allegiance in 1697 and is believed to have died between 1698 and 1699. This is only the second marquetry clock by this maker which we have handled. HW5299 Signed / Inscribed Robert Dingley: London
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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