Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by William Barker, England, 1700–1720
- Maker / attribution
- William Barker (designed and made by)
- Date
- 1700–1720
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, brass (alloy), carving, clock-making
- Dimensions
- Height: 236.5 cm; Width: 58 cm; Depth: 28 cm; Weight: 5.65 kg (w.81:5 Lead weight 10/10/2025 NH); Weight: 6.7 kg (w.81:6 Lead weight 10/10/2025 NH)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.81:1-1910
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.81:1-1910), this is a longcase clock by William Barker, made in England, dated 1700–1720. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, brass (alloy), carving, clock-making. Recorded dimensions: Height: 236.5 cm; Width: 58 cm; Depth: 28 cm; Weight: 5.65 kg (w.81:5 Lead weight 10/10/2025 NH); Weight: 6.7 kg (w.81:6 Lead 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
Long-case clock of carved mahogany with brass face, partly silvered, and mounts, signed “Barker, Wigan”. Round arched head with voluted hood with fluted side columns surmounted by a brass eagle standing on a globe in the middle and globes supporting pinnacles at the sides. The body is carved with a band of fret ornament and fluted pilasters of quarter-round section at the angle. The face has pierced rococo mounts encircling the dial and a semi-circular plate above painted with phases of the moon.
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Longcase clock, English, 1700-1720, mahogany, signed Barker, Wigan
Provenance
Formerly on loan to the Geffrye Museum, London (1968-2006).
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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