Clocks · Longcase clock
Rocking ship automata longcase clock by Peatling, Boston (Lincolnshire), c. 1820
- Maker / attribution
- Peatling (maker)
- Date
- c. 1820
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Boston, Lincolnshire
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, oak
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 11 in (211 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 495
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 495)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Rare Rocking Ship Automata Longcase Clock by Peatling of Boston (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 495), this is a longcase clock by Peatling, made in Boston, Lincolnshire, 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, oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 11 in (211 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
A very pretty provincial and small oak longcase clock from the County of Lincolnshire, featuring a rare rocking shop Automata. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell and with an arched white dial showing seconds, date, Roman numerals and exotic birds to the corner decorations. The makers name and place of work signed to the centre of the dial and with matching brass hands. The arch depicts a Galleon sailing near a coastal town with a small fort, country cottages and trees. The long trunk door of a good light coloured oak inlaid with a shell to the centre and mahogany crossbanding with a plain base, teminating with bracket feet. The hood with brass capped reeded oak pillars, a swan neck top with brass paterae and a brass eagle finial. Note: This clock is typical of the Lincolnshire area with the shaped trunk door and the triangular inlay to the top of the hood. Oak longcase clocks with rocking ship automatas are quite rare as they were normally ordered with the more expensive mahogany cabinet work. Maker Peatling of Boston
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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