Clocks · Longcase clock
Rocking ship longcase clock by Vincent, Bath, c. 1835
- Maker / attribution
- Vincent (maker)
- Date
- c. 1835
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Bath
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, rosewood
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 4 in (224 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 436
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 436)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Rocking Ship Longcase Clock by Vincent of Bath (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 436), this is a longcase clock by Vincent, made in Bath, England, dated c. 1835. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, rosewood. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 4 in (224 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 West Country longcase clock with rare Rocking Ship Automata. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell and with a 12" white dial with flower decoration to the corners, Roman chapters and showing both seconds and date to the centre The arch with the rare feature of a Rocking Ship automata featuring a Castle Fort with soldiers on guard. The mahogany case with good figured and well coloured veneer to both the trunk and base. The trunk with rosewood veneered canted corners and the base with bracket feet. Further rosewood crossbanding throughout the case along with boxwood inlay to the base and trunk. The hood with mahogany barely twist pillars and a typical West Country crested pediment surmounted with original mahogany ball finials. Note: Abraham Vincent was born in Bath in 1792. He worked at various addresses including 22 Vineyards and 5 Cleveland Terrace. He is listed as a Watchmaker. Original Rocking Ship automata longcase clocks are now becoming increasingly difficult to locate. This is an excellent local example presented in excellent condition. Maker Vincent of Bath
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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