Clocks · Bracket clock
Quarter striking bracket clock by Charles Absolon, London, c. 1820
- Maker / attribution
- Charles Absolon (maker)
- Date
- c. 1820
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 19 in (48 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 191
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 191)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Quarter Striking Bracket Clock by Charles Absolon of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 191), this is a bracket clock by Charles Absolon, made in London, England, dated c. 1820. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 19 in (48 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 quality and rare mahogany antique bracket clock with quarter striking movement and rare enamel dial. The 8 day duration triple fusee movement with anchor escapement and striking the hour on a single bell and the quarters on 8 bells. The backplate engraved to the edge with the makers name engraved to the centre within a large cartouche. The rare white enamel convex dial with Roman chapters and matching steel blued hands all housed within a substantial cast brass bezel The well figured mahogany case with brass sound frets to the front, fish scale frets to the sides and brass carrying handles. All with original gilded finish. Also with fluted moulding to the bottom moulding. The top with a single brass bordered pad. Standing on four gilded brass ball feet. Note: Charles Absolon is listed as working in the late 18th century and through into the 19th century. Quarter striking bracket/table clocks with enamel dials from this period are very rare. Maker Charles Absolon of London
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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:Verge escapement
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