Clocks · Longcase clock
Oak longcase clock by Johnson, Halesworth, c. 1775
- Maker / attribution
- Johnson (maker)
- Date
- c. 1775
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Halesworth
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- oak
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 2 in (218 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 485
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 485)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Oak Longcase Clock by Johnson of Halesworth (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 485), this is a longcase clock by Johnson, made in Halesworth, England, dated c. 1775. 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 7 ft 2 in (218 cm). The record is illustrated with 3 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 East Anglian oak longcase clock. The movement is of 8 day duration and strikes the hours on a single bell. The arched full brass dial with Roman numerals, full Arabic minutes, seconds and a date aperture. The makers name and place of work is engraved to the centre of the silvered centre along with beautifully made blued steel hands. Also with engraved flowers, foliage and scrolls. The corners with applied brass spandrels which are also displayed to the arch with a strike/silent mechanism to the centre. The well proportioned oak case of good colour has a plain base and stands on a double 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 and with plain quarter pillars to the rear. Also with inspection windows to the sides and a broken arch top. Note: John Johnson of Halesworth was working in the second half of the 18th century and appears to be located in the Market Place. He almost certainly had connections with the London makers due to the quality of the dial and movement. He died in 1789. Maker Johnson of Halesworth
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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