Clocks · Tall case clock
Tall Case Clock by John Hoff
- Maker / attribution
- John Hoff (maker)
- Date
- 1805–15
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- United States
- Place
- Lancaster
- Object type
- Tall case clock
- Materials / technique
- cherry; white pine
- Dimensions
- 95 3/4 × 20 1/8 × 10 1/16 in. (243.2 × 51.1 × 25.6 cm) other (Frame, hood): 18 3/4 × 9 7/16 in. (47.7 × 23.9 cm) other (Lower case): 67 1/4 × 19 × 13 3/16 in. (170.8 × 48.3 × 33.5 cm) other (Frame, lower case): 13 3/16 × 7 1/4 in. (33.5 × 18.4 cm) other (Dial): 18 1/2 × 13 in. (47 × 33 cm) other (Movement): 5 3/4 × 5 × 2 3/8 in. (14.6 × 12.7 × 6.1 cm)
- Holding institution
- Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
- Accession / object no.
- 1930.2280a-d
- Credit line
- Mabel Brady Garvan Collection
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tall Case Clock (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (object number 1930.2280a-d), this is a tall case clock by John Hoff, made in Lancaster, United States, dated 1805–15. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: cherry; white pine. Recorded dimensions: 95 3/4 × 20 1/8 × 10 1/16 in. (243.2 × 51.1 × 25.6 cm) other (Frame, hood): 18 3/4 × 9 7/16 in. (47.7 × 23.9 cm) other (Lower case): 67 1/4 × 19 × 13 3/16 in. (170.8 × 48.3 × 33.5 cm) other (Frame, lower case): 13 3/16 × 7 1/4 in. (33.5 × 18.4 cm) other (Dial): 18 1/2 × 13 in. (47 × 33 cm) other (Movement): 5 3/4 × 5 × 2 3/8 in. (14.6 × 12.7 × 6.1 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
Catalogue description — Yale University Art Gallery
Like his father, the German immigrant and clockmaker George Hoff, John Hoff, the maker of this clock movement, was part of a community of craftsmen in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area who continued to use traditional German clock-making techniques well into the nineteenth century. In this tall clock, a German-style movement is placed inside a distinctly American-style clock case, which features an inlaid eagle design derived from the Great Seal of the United States.
Published references — Yale University Art Gallery
"Joe Kindig, Jr., advertisement," Antiques 15, no. 5 (May 1929), 422, ill. · Theodore Sizer, "The Mabel Brady Garvan Collection of American Arts and Crafts," Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at Yale University 4 (December 1930), inside front cover, ill. · Edwin A. Battison and Patricia E. Kane, The American Clock, 1725–1865: The Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1973), 146–149, no. 32, ill.
Inscriptions & marks
"John Hoff / LANCASTER," painted, on dial
Provenance
Joe Kindig, Jr., York, PA; Francis P. Garvan, New York. Gift in 1930 to Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
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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