Clocks · Bracket clock
Mahogany musical bracket clock by J. N. Martyn, Falmouth
- Maker / attribution
- J. N. Martyn (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Falmouth
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 62 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 3005
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 3005)
- Catalogue title (original)
- A MAHOGANY MUSICAL BRACKET CLOCK – J. N. MARTYN – FALMOUTH (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 3005), this is a bracket clock by J. N. Martyn, made in Falmouth, England, dated c. 1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 62 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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 — The Antique Clock Company
An 8-day triple fusee movement, with the original verge escapement striking the hours to a bell via a rack and snail striking system and the quarters being played on a nest of eight bells, which can also be silenced. There is also a repeating function, and the back plate with the boarder engraved, and also signed ‘J. N. Martyn Falmouth’. The inverted bell top case is magnificent in its style and construction and uses the finest flame mahogany veneers. The gilded mounts are of excellent quality, and five urn-shaped finials surmount the top of the case. The sides of the case are glazed with carrying handles above. The rear door is also glazed. The 7 ¾” engraved silvered brass break arch dial with two subsidiary dials set within the break arch, with the choices of Chime/Not Chime, and Air/Song, divided by a cartouche signed ‘J. N. Martyn Falmouth’. The silvered engraved chapter ring consists of both Roman and Arabic numerals and is finished with the original finely cut blued steel hands and gilded spandrels. Height: 24 ½” or 62 cm (Including finial) Width: 14 ½” or 37 cm Depth: 8 ½” or 21 cm (Pictures taken pre-restoration)
Provenance
Private collection – Scotland
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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) escapement
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