Clocks · Longcase clock
Marquetry longcase clock Edward Crouch of London, c. 1695
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1695
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- ebonised, marquetry
- Dimensions
- Height 8 ft 3 in (251 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 218
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 218)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Marquetry Longcase Clock - Edward Crouch of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 218), this is a longcase clock, made in England, dated c. 1695. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ebonised, marquetry. Recorded dimensions: Height 8 ft 3 in (251 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
Member of the Clockmakers Company / Master 1719 & 1723 A fine London Marquetry longcase clock retaining its original caddy top. The five pillar 8 day movement with anchor escapement and countwheel bell striking on each hour. The 11" square brass dial with separate silvered brass chapter ring enclosing a matted centre with ringed winding holes and showing both seconds and date and with finely made blued steel hands. The impressive panelled strap and scroll marquetry case with foliage and inhabited by birds and figures to both the trunk door, base and hood. The trunk door also with a brass lenticle. The sides of the trunk with boxwood inlaid panels and ebonised mouldings throughout the case. The hood with brass capped angle pillars with caddy surmounted by three brass Flambeau finials. The total height with the caddy is 8'3" but with the caddy removed the height is 7'3". Note: Edward Crouch was apprenticed in 1682 and freed in 1691. After becoming an Assistant and Warden he eventually became Master of the Clockmakers Company in 1719 and again in 1723. In 1697 his address was Under St Dunstans Church, Fleet Street. Historical Fact: In 1666 St Dunstans Church, Fleet Street narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London. Maker Edward Crouch of London
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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