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Scottish grandfather clock by Smith, Edinburgh, c. 1820 — view 1 of 3
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Clocks · Longcase clock

Scottish grandfather clock by Smith, Edinburgh, c. 1820

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Smith (maker)
Date
c. 1820
Historical period
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Country of origin
Scotland
Place
Edinburgh
Object type
Longcase clock
Materials / technique
mahogany
Dimensions
Height 6 ft 8 in (203 cm)
Dealer
P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire
Stock no.
Product 204
Credit line
Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 204)
Catalogue title (original)
Scottish Antique Grandfather Clock by Smith of Edinburgh (English)

View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 204), this is a longcase clock by Smith, made in Edinburgh, Scotland, 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 6 ft 8 in (203 cm). The record is illustrated with 3 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 fine Scottish Antique grandfather clock with a flame mahogany veneered case. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell. The round painted dial showing both seconds and date and with matching blued steel hands. The mahogany case with excellent flame veneer to both the trunk door and base and with boxwood inlay throughout. The trunk door flanked with reeded quarter columns with mahogany capitals. The hood with glazed brass bezel and with plain broken arch top. Maker Smith of Edinburgh

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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