Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock, Sweden, 1778–1826
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1778–1826
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Sweden
- Place
- Sverige Karlshamn Blekinge Sverige Blekinge Karlshamn Karlshamn
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- Ek
- Dimensions
- Bredd 430 mm Djup 225 mm
- Holding institution
- Blekinge Museum
- Accession / object no.
- blm_item_18141
- Credit line
- Blekinge Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Golvur (Swedish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Blekinge Museum (object number blm_item_18141), this is a longcase clock, made in Sverige Karlshamn Blekinge Sverige Blekinge Karlshamn Karlshamn, Sweden, dated 1778–1826. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Ek. Recorded dimensions: Bredd 430 mm Djup 225 mm. The record is illustrated with 5 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 Blekinge Museum
Golvur av trä. Fodralet målat i ek, målningen från nyare tid. På dörrens insida följande anteckning med oljefärg: "Målad 1799 till S.M.S: W.I.D. Kiöpt år 1833. af M.P.S. och K.I.D. MDCCCLXXII". Märkning utanpå: "1872 MPS KID" samt en bild på en ängel som vandrar. Huven fanerad på blindträ, sprickor på ovansidan. Fönster på huvens sidor samt fönster på fodralets lucka. Plant glas för urtavlan. Urtavlan är av målad plåt med arabiska siffror och två visare. Urtavlan signerad: "N. Ekegren, Karlshamn". Uret tillverkat av Nils Ekegren, Karlshamn f.1745 d.1826. Verksam från 1778. De första golvuren kommer under slutet av 1600-talet. Lodens tyngd kräver en kraftigare konstruktion. I Sverige kom inhemsk produktion igång under början av 1700-talet. Hos allmogen var golvuren mycket populära från mitten av 1700-talet fram till 1800-talets mitt. (Litt: Åstrand, Barbro 1980: "Gamla ur - ur Kulturen samlingar".) Inköpt 1906 inom västra Blekinge genom fabrikör H. Hammarlund, Halda. Negativnr: A 12836, A 12872, A 12873, A 12874
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
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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