Clocks · Longcase clock
Oak longcase clock by John Scott, Edinburgh, c. 1790
- Maker / attribution
- John Scott (maker)
- Date
- c. 1790
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Edinburgh
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- oak, ebony, satinwood
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 4 in (224 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 472
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 472)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Oak Longcase Clock by John Scott of Edinburgh (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 472), this is a longcase clock by John Scott, made in Edinburgh, Scotland, dated c. 1790. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: oak, ebony, satinwood. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 4 in (224 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 example of 18th century Edinburgh Clockmaking by this Clockmaker to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The movement is of 8 day duration and strikes the hours on a bell. The arched silvered brass dial has Roman numerals, Arabic minutes, seconds, a round date aperture and blued steel hands. The makers name and place of work is engraved to the arch of the dial. The dial is profusely and excellently engraved with scrolls, foliage and birds, a typical Edinburgh feature at this period The figured oak cabinet work displays excellent proportions and features a long trunk door of excellent colour. This is flanked by reeded quarter columns finishing with solid oak capitals. The plain base stands on small bracket feet. The hood also displays reeded pillars terminating with brass Doric capitals and with plain wooden pillars to the rear of the hood. The pediment is finished with a typical Edinburgh swan neck top with a central brass eagle finial, ebony paterea, satinwood fretwork and inspection windows to the sides. Note: John Scott of Edinburgh was apprenticed to James Grey on 13th January 1779. He was discharged of his indentures on 30th July 1785. He is known to have worked at Princes Street and also No2 East Register Street, Edinburgh. It appears he carried out some of his training in London under some of the best artists in England. Maker John Scott of Edinburgh
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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