Clocks · Longcase clock
Moonphase grandfather clock by Tremlett, St George’s, c. 1840
- Maker / attribution
- Tremlett (maker)
- Date
- c. 1840
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- St George’s
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 7 in (231 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 124
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 124)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Moonphase Grandfather clock by Tremlett of St George’s (Bristol) (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 124), this is a longcase clock by Tremlett, made in St George’s, England, dated c. 1840. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, ebony. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 7 in (231 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
An excellent West Country mahogany longcase clock from the City of Bristol. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell and with an arched white dial displaying Roman numerals to the chapter ring, seconds, matching brass hands and a date aperture. The moonphase feature to the arch displaying the moon for each day. Also additionally showing a Galleon and a rustic property. The impressive flame mahogany veneered case with boxwood and ebony inlay throughout and the trunk door flanked by solid mahogany barley twist columns and Corinthian capitals. The hood also with brass Corinthian capitals and barley twist columns. The top of the hood with a crested pediment and three brass spire finials. The base with similar veneers, inlay and mahogany feet to both the front and rear of the case. In working order and serviced within the last few years Note: This case is typical of the West Country area during this period. The Tremlett Clockmakers were rather prolific with family members in Bristol, Weston Super Mare and Hanham. St George’s is an area of Bristol so called due to the St George’s Church was built in 1821.
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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