Clocks · Longcase clock
Small walnut longcase clock by Burges, Gosport, c. 1745
- Maker / attribution
- Burges (maker)
- Date
- c. 1745
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Gosport
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- walnut
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 10 in (208 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 500
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 500)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Small Walnut longcase clock by Burges of Gosport (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 500), this is a longcase clock by Burges, made in Gosport, England, dated c. 1745. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: walnut. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 10 in (208 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 small mid 18th century provincial longcase clock of London quality. The 8 day duration 5 pillar movement strikes the hours on a bell with the rack striking method and a recoil anchor escapement. The 12" full brass dial has a separate silvered brass chapter ring, finely matted centre, seconds, date and displays the makers name and place of work on a silvered brass cartouche. The arch and corners have typical brass spandrels of the period featuring sea creatures to the arch and elaborate urn designs to the corners. Also with well cut blued steel hands and a strike/silence mechanism to the arch. The walnut veneered case has highly figured veneers to both the trunk door and base. Featuring a book matched design and with a very desirable colour and patina. Also with typical cross-grained mouldings, cross-banded veneer throughout the case and a plain double plinth. The base is of a very shallow design as used in this particular area of the country. The hood features plain walnut pillars to both the front and rear and terminating with brass Doric capitals. Glass viewing windows are found to the sides and the pediment of the clock is finished with a broken arch top. Note: Small walnut longcase clocks from the 18th century are exceedingly rare. This particular example although made in Gosport, Hampshire has several London features throughout the movement, dial and case. This clearly demonstrates that the Clockmakers in the South of England were especially influenced by the London Clockmaking designs during this period. Maker Burges of Gosport
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance 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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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