Clocks · Wall clock
Small mahogany wall clock by Brown, Portman Square, London, c. 1825
- Maker / attribution
- Brown (maker)
- Date
- c. 1825
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Portman Square, London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 13 in (33 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 230
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 230)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Small Mahogany Antique Wall Clock by Brown of Portman Square, London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 230), this is a wall clock by Brown, made in Portman Square, London, England, dated c. 1825. 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 13 in (33 cm). The record is illustrated with 2 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 & very desirable early 19th century mahogany antique drop dial wall clock The 8 day duration fusee movement with anchor escapement. The rare 8" convex round white dial with Roman numerals, exquisitely cut blued steel hands, makers name and place of work. The mahogany case with access doors to the base and the side of the case. The door to the base veneered with mahogany and edged with ebony. The glazed brass bezel with a convex glass secured by a lock to the side. The small drop below the dial with excellent and richly coloured flame veneers and original carved ears to each side. The perfect Wall Clock for the Gentlemans Study. Maker Brown of Portman Square, 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
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
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.
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