Clocks · Longcase clock
Mahogany longcase clock by Bryson, Edinburgh, c. 1830
- Maker / attribution
- Bryson (maker)
- Date
- c. 1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Edinburgh
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 75
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 75)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Mahogany longcase clock by Bryson of Edinburgh (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 75), this is a longcase clock by Bryson, made in Edinburgh, Scotland, dated c. 1830. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, ebonised. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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 — P A Oxley
A fine drumhead Scottish longcase clock by this famous Clockmaking family. The substantial 8 day duration movement strikes the hours on a bell and has a recoil anchor escapement. The round silvered brass dial features matching blued steel hands, Roman numerals and the makers name is engraved to the centre of the dial, Bryson of Edinburgh. The movement also features a large brass pendulum bob to aid regulation and matching cast iron flat Scottish weights. The elegantly proportioned Regulator style mahogany veneered case of typical drumhead design has high quality crossbanded veneers throughout with reeded quarter columns to the trunk. Also with a three quarter length trunk door and with a veneered oval panel below. The base has a raised single moulding and a shaped plinth with bracket feet. To the hood a glazed concave lockable brass bezel allows access to the dial. The plain drum shaped top which is typical of the period and Edinburgh area is mounted upon turned horizontal supports with ebonised paterae. The ever popular drumhead designed longcase clocks have both a contemporary and period feel. Note: The Bryson family are described as eminent and inventive Clockmakers. Robert Bryson was born in 1778 and died in 1852. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and made a Sidereal Regulator for the Edinburgh Observatory. He had two sons, Alexander and Robert who succeeded him. It’s quite possible that this clock was made by more than one Bryson as it is simply signed ‘Bryson’. Alexander Bryson was a great inventor including “a new clock impelled by a combination of Gravitation and Electro Magnetism” and “the means of determining the presence of icebergs during fogs or darkness at sea. Maker Bryson of Edinburgh
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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