Clocks · Longcase clock
Nelson automata grandfather clock by Jones, Abingdon, c. 1805
- Maker / attribution
- Jones (maker)
- Date
- c. 1805
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Abingdon
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- oak
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 11 in (211 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 463
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 463)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Rare Nelson Automata Grandfather Clock by Jones of Abingdon (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 463), this is a longcase clock by Jones, made in Abingdon, 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: oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 11 in (211 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 exceptionally rare longcase clock with Horatio Nelson Automata. The movement is of 8 day duration with a 5 pillar movement and strikes the hours on a bell. The arched painted dial has Roman numerals, Arabic minutes, seconds and date aperture. The makers name and place of work is displayed across the centre of the dial. The corners are well painted with oval designs and gold scrollwork. Also with matching blued steel hands. Displayed in the arch is a scene from The Victory showing Admiral Lord Nelson on deck with Cannons firing to both sides. As the clock ticks, Nelson raises a telescope to his left eye. The small oak case has well figured oak to the long trunk door and a plain base with a single plinth. The hood displays reeded pillars terminating with brass Doric capitals. Also with inspection windows to the sides and a broken arch top. Note: A large number of items were made to celebrate the life of Admiral Lord Nelson after his heroic death. We have seen Nelson inspired longcase clocks in the past but we have never seen or had the pleasure of owning an example that incorporated an automata displaying the man himself. This is a very rare example. Maker Jones of Abingdon
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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