Clocks · Longcase clock
Quarter striking regulator quality longcase clock by Aynsworth Thwaites, London, c. 1765
- Maker / attribution
- Aynsworth Thwaites (maker)
- Date
- c. 1765
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 8 ft 9 in (267 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 443
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 443)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Quarter Striking Regulator quality Longcase clock by Aynsworth Thwaites of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 443), this is a longcase clock by Aynsworth Thwaites, made in London, England, dated c. 1765. 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 8 ft 9 in (267 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 exceptional and rare quarter striking 18th century longcase clock by this well known Clockmaker with Regulator quality movement. The substantial six pillar 8 day duration movement with deadbeat anchor escapement, maintaining power and striking the hours on a bell and the quarters on a further eight bells. The brass dial with separate silvered brass chapter ring enclosing a finely matted centre with seconds and blued steel hands. All surrounded with brass spandrels to the corners. The arch with scroll engraving, the makers name and twin subsidiary dials facilitating strike/silent and the rare feature of rise and fall regulation. The highly impressive mahogany case with a long trunk door with shaped top and flanked by reeded and brass inlaid quarter pillars. The base also with reeded and brass inlaid quarter pillars with a raised panel and typical double shaped plinth. The hood with separate brass capped and brass inlaid angle pillars below a double domed top with sound frets and surmounted with three brass finials. Note: Aynsworth Thwaites started the business C.1740 in Rosoman Row, Clerkenwell and was made a Freeman of the Clockmakers Company in 1751. Aynsworth was the Father of John Thwaites who later went on to become Thwaites & Reed, a very successful Clockmaking business. Aynsworth is perhaps more well known for making Turret Clocks and in 1740 he made the Turret Clock for the Horse Guards Parade, London but it was not finished until 1768. There are also records showing that he made a matching pair of Longcase Clocks for the East India Company in 1770. The movement in this clock is superbly made and of the very finest quality, with some features displaying an almost âturret clockâ quality. Maker Aynsworth Thwaites 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
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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