Clocks · Longcase clock
Moonphase longcase clock by William Bullock, Bradford on Avon, c. 1830
- Maker / attribution
- William Bullock (maker)
- Date
- c. 1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Bradford on Avon
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 5 in (226 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 76
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 76)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Moonphase longcase clock by William Bullock of Bradford on Avon (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 76), this is a longcase clock by William Bullock, made in Bradford on Avon, England, dated c. 1830. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, ebonised. 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 Wiltshire. 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 exceptional flame mahogany veneered case with boxwood inlay throughout and the trunk door flanked by canted corners. The hood with brass Doric capitals and ebonised reeded pillars. The top of the good with a crested pediment with three brass spire finials. The base with similar veneers, inlay and large mahogany feet to the front of the clock. Note: The Bullock family were prolific Clockmakers throughout the Counties of Wiltshire and Somerset during the 19th century. William Bullock of Bradford on Avon worked in Pippit Street, now part of Market Street. 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 superb colour and definition to the flame mahogany veneers. Maker William Bullock of Bradford on Avon
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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