Clocks · Longcase clock
Moonphase longcase clock by Sawkins, Southampton, c. 1805
- Maker / attribution
- Sawkins (maker)
- Date
- c. 1805
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Southampton
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, oak
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 11 in (211 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 469
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 469)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Moonphase longcase clock by Sawkins of Southampton (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 469), this is a longcase clock by Sawkins, made in Southampton, England, dated c. 1805. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 11 in (211 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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
A fine oak longcase with Moonphase feature to the arch. The movement is of 8 day duration and strikes the hours on a single bell. The arched painted dial has Roman numerals, full Arabic minutes, seconds and a date aperture. The makers name and place of work is displayed above the number VI. The corners are painted with a green fish scale design with decorated roundels. Also with matching blued steel hands. The Moonphase to the arch depicts the Moons age over the course of each month and also displays a church and a galleon. The well proportioned oak case of good light colour has a plain base and stands on a single plinth. The trunk has a long broken arch shaped trunk door and a brass escutcheon to the lock. The hood displays reeded pillars terminating with brass Doric capitals. Also with inspection windows to the sides and a broken arch top. Note: Moonphase longcase clocks in oak cases are rare. Due to the extra costs involved in making a moonphase dial and mechanism they are most often seen in mahogany cases. This particular example is beautifully proportioned and very pleasing to the eye. It would be at home in either a contemporary environment or a traditional setting. Maker Sawkins of Southampton
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
Related records
Clocks · 1740–1760
Longcase clock, English, 1740–1760, japanned wood, John Ellicott
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c.1750
Long-case clock, English, ca. 1750, by Richard Peyton of Gloucester
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1751
Large wheel engine, signed and dated "John Tipping, Whildon Green, 1751".
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1755
Bracket clock by John Fordham, England, 1755
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1760
Longcase clock by James Cox, England, c. 1760
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1766
Clock by Alexander Cumming, England, 1766
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1768–1769
Regulator clock by John Shelton, England, 1768–1769
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1775
Longcase clock, England, c. 1775
Victoria and Albert Museum, London