Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock, Sweden, 1700
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Sweden
- Place
- Sverige
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- Metall
- Holding institution
- Skelleftea museum
- Accession / object no.
- skm_item_2995
- Credit line
- Skelleftea museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Golvur (Swedish)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Skelleftea museum (object number skm_item_2995), this is a longcase clock, made in Sverige, Sweden, dated 1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Metall. The record is illustrated with 2 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
Catalogue description from Skelleftea museum
Golvur med urtavla i metall, brännförgylld. Klockfodralet är målat i en ljust blågrön kulör och är utsmyckat med blommor och figurer i rokoko-stil. Fodralets mellandel är buktig och huven har uttag för en fyrkantig urtavla. Målningen är troligen utförd av Jacob Tjernberg Detta är rokokopräglat och enligt påskrift målat 1772 i en ljus färgskala med dekor i form av roccailler och blommor och blad. Märkligast är dock den dansande mannen bland gröna träd iförd en variant av den svenska dräkten. Jacob Tjernberg har troligen målat två ur i Skellefteå museums samlingar, SM 859 samt SM 861. Text på uret: Åhr 1772. Huven är skadad och renoverad.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
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
Related records
Clocks · 1739
Longcase clock, Sweden, 1739
National Association of Swedish Handicraft Societies
Clocks · 1700–1750
Longcase clock, Sweden, 1700–1750
Kulturparken Småland
Clocks · 1700-tal (1700 AD - 1799 AD)
Longcase clock, Sweden, 1700-tal (1700 AD - 1799 AD)
Swedish History Museum
Clocks · 1700
Longcase clock by Anders Torsel, Sweden, 1700
Nordic Museum Foundation
Clocks · 1735
Clock by Olof Nohrin, Sweden, 1735
Skansen
Clocks · 1735
Longcase clock by Petter Norsell, Sweden, 1735
Nordic Museum Foundation
Clocks · 1741–1745
Table clock by Gustaf Cronhiort, Sweden, 1741–1745
Nordic Museum Foundation
Clocks · 1700s
Wall clock by Petter Ernst, Sweden, 1700s
Suomen kansallismuseo