Clocks · Longcase clock
Moonphase longcase clock by Hancock, Midsomer Norton, c. 1845
- Maker / attribution
- Hancock (maker)
- Date
- c. 1845
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Midsomer Norton
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 5 in (226 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 416
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 416)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Moonphase Longcase Clock by Hancock of Midsomer Norton (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 416), this is a longcase clock by Hancock, made in Midsomer Norton, England, dated c. 1845. 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 5 in (226 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 County of Somerset. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell and with and arched white dial displaying a Roman chapter ring, seconds, date and a moonphase feature to the arch. The flame mahogany veneered case with boxwood and ebony inlay throughout and the trunk door flanked by spiral columns with brass Corinthian capitals. The hood also with Corinthian capitals and spiral columns and topped with a crested pediment with three brass eagle finials. The base with similar veneers and inlay and large ogee shaped feet to the front of the clock. Note: Isaac Hancock is recorded in the 1841 census. He is listed as a Watch & Clockmaker, aged 25, he was married to Mary and had 2 Children. Interestingly he is living next door to a George Hancock, also a Watch & Clockmaker. This may have been his Father. Longcase clocks from the West Country and South Wales are very often made with just front feet, which is exactly the situation with this clock. This enables the clock to lean back against the wall. This particular case has exceptional colour and definition to the flame mahogany veneers. Maker Hancock of Midsomer Norton
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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