Clocks · Longcase clock
Regency longcase clock by Viner, London, c. 1820
- Maker / attribution
- Viner (maker)
- Date
- c. 1820
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 8.5 in (204 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 542
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 542)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Regency longcase clock by Viner of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 542), this is a longcase clock by Viner, 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, ebony. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 8.5 in (204 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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
A small Regency longcase clock by this well known Clockmaker. The high quality 8 day duration 5 pillar movement with shaped plates and striking the hours on a bell. The pendulum features a large brass bob and regulation nut. The 12" plain painted arched dial features strike/silent to the arch, seconds, date, Roman numerals and the makers name and place of work to the centre of the dial, Viner, Royal Exchange, London. Also with typical high quality matching blued steel hands. The elegant and small cabinetwork features high quality mahogany veneers to both the trunk door and base. The latter with an applied moulding to the panel and a plain shaped double plinth. The trunk features canted corners, a broken arch to to the trunk door and is also beautifully inlaid with brass and ebony. The hood also with canted corners, a broken arch top and inspection windows to each side. The dial is accessed via the glazed and lockable door. Note: Charles Edward Viner was apprenticed in 1802 and Free of the Clockmakers Company in 1813 and established his business in Regent Street, London. He made some of the finest mantel and carriage clocks during that era but it’s very unusual to see a longcase clock by him.
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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