Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock, England, 1830-1850 (uncertain)
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1830-1850 (uncertain)
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Great Britain, England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- sokkopuu, havupuu, softwood, vaneri, wood, walnut, avainkilvet, punnukset, brass, kellotaulu, iron, glass, oak, skogsek
- Dimensions
- 2390 x 505 x 350 mm
- Holding institution
- Villa Gyllenberg
- Accession / object no.
- G-36
- Credit line
- Villa Gyllenberg (via Finna)
- Catalogue title (original)
- kaappikello (Finnish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Villa Gyllenberg (object number G-36), this is a longcase clock, made in Great Britain, England, dated 1830-1850 (uncertain). The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: sokkopuu, havupuu, softwood, vaneri, wood, walnut, avainkilvet, punnukset, brass, kellotaulu, iron, glass, oak, skogsek. Recorded dimensions: 2390 x 505 x 350 mm. 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
Description — Villa Gyllenberg
fyysinen kuvaus: Suorakaiteen tai pilasterin mallinen; klassisoivaa tyyppiä. Takaosaa lukuunottamatta kauttaaltaan vaneroitu jalopuulla. Kellohuoneen ovi päättyy puolikaareen ja sen molemmin puolin kanneloidut pylväät, joiden kapiteelit ja baasit tummaksi petsatut. Ovessa ikkuna ja luinen avainkilpi. Kellotaulu valkoinen, jossa rokokoohenkisesti maalattuja polykromeja kukkia ja päällä lintu. Kellotaulu näyttää tunnit, sekunnit ja 31 päivää. Otsalista puolikaaren muotoinen ja siinä profiloitu korniisi, jonka yläpuolella lävisteiset, fleuronkoristeiset vinoristikkokentät vihreällä pahvitaustalla. Lävistekentät myös kellohuoneen kyljissä ja takasärmissä puolipylväät. Kellon keskiosan ulkosärmissä neljäsosapylväät, keskellä suorakaiteen muotoinen ovi, jossa luinen avainkilpi. Alaosa on hieman leveämpi ja sen ulkosärmissä on myös neljäsosapylväät. Alaosa päättyy sokkeliin, jossa kaariaiheinen leikkaus takaosaa lukuunottamatta.
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.
Inscriptions & marks
merkintä: 4625, taustalevyssä sisällä; merkintä: 4625, taustalevyssä sisällä; tarra: [epäselvä] 18[...]0 62240 [epäselvä] 6 september 1964 /// Uret bör öljas mest vartannat år [epäselvä], ovessa sisäpuolella; kirjoitus: Mindre lod [epäselvä] Större [epäselvä], ovessa sisäpuolella
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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