Clocks · Longcase clock
Moonphase London longcase clock by Aynsworth Thwaites, c. 1755
- Maker / attribution
- Aynsworth Thwaites (maker)
- Date
- c. 1755
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 8 ft 8 in (264 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 247
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 247)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Moonphase London Longcase Clock by Aynsworth Thwaites (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 247), this is a longcase clock by Aynsworth Thwaites, made in England, dated c. 1755. 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 8 ft 8 in (264 cm). 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
Dealer description — P A Oxley
An exceptional 18th century London longcase clock with rare moonphase feature to the arch. The substantial 8 day duration 5 pillar movement with shaped plates and striking the hours on a bell. The 12" arched brass dial with separate silvered brass chapter ring signed by the maker, brass spandrels to the corners, seconds and date. The arch with the rare London feature of phases of the moon. The dial also with blued steel hands, matted centre, engraved hemispheres to the arch and Strike/Silent feature at position III. The high quality and slender mahogany case of a good deep colour with a long trunk door flanked by reeded and inlaid brass quarter columns. The base also with reeded and inlaid brass quarter columns, with a raised shaped panel and double plinth with elaborate cutout. The hood with brass inlaid angle pillars surmounted with brass Doric capitals and pagoda top with a blind sound fret and three brass ball finials. The sides with original blind sound frets and plain quarter pillars. Note: Aynsworth Thwaites started the his business in C.1740 in Rosoman Row, Clerkenwell and was made a Freeman of the Clockmakers Company in 1751. Aynsworth was the Father of John Thwaites who later went on to become Thwaites & Reed, a very successful Clockmaking business. Aynsworth is perhaps more well known for making Turret Clocks and in 1740 he made the Turret Clock for the Horse Guards Parade, London but it was not finished until 1768. There are also records showing that he made a matching pair of Longcase Clocks for the East India Company in 1770. Maker Aynsworth Thwaites
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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