Clocks · Tall case clock
Tall Case Clock by Joseph Wills
- Maker / attribution
- Joseph Wills (maker)
- Date
- 1725–40
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- United States
- Place
- Philadelphia
- Object type
- Tall case clock
- Materials / technique
- pine of the taeda group (primary); ash (molding on base of hood, cove molding on top of wait, and door of hood); white pine (top of hood)
- Dimensions
- 79 1/4 × 22 1/2 × 14 1/4 in. (201.3 × 57.2 × 36.2 cm)
- Holding institution
- Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
- Accession / object no.
- 1930.2282
- Credit line
- Mabel Brady Garvan Collection
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tall Case Clock (English)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (object number 1930.2282), this is a tall case clock by Joseph Wills, made in Philadelphia, United States, dated 1725–40. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: pine of the taeda group (primary); ash (molding on base of hood, cove molding on top of wait, and door of hood); white pine (top of hood). Recorded dimensions: 79 1/4 × 22 1/2 × 14 1/4 in. (201.3 × 57.2 × 36.2 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
Published references — Yale University Art Gallery
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), 110–113, no. 23, ill. · Lisa Minardi, "Philadelphia Furniture, and the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Germans: A Reevaluation," in American Furniture, ed. Luke Beckerdite (Milwaukee: The Chipstone Foundation, 2013), 225–26
Inscriptions & marks
"Jos Wills Philadelphia," engraved, on dial
Provenance
Harry Arons, Ansonia, CT; Henry H. Taylor, Bridgeport, CT; Francis P. Garvan, New York, to 1930; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
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:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
Related records
Clocks · 1740–55
Tall clock by Joseph Ward, United States, 1740–55
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · 1727–30
Clock by Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, United States, 1727–30
Art Institute of Chicago
Clocks · c. 1740
Harlequin Family Clock
Art Institute of Chicago
Clocks · 1725–40
Tall clock by Benjamin Bagnall, United States, 1725–40
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1730
Tall clock by Peter Stretch, United States, c. 1730
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · 1740–50
Tall clock by William Claggett, United States, 1740–50
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1710
Tall Case Clock by Samuel Bispham
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
Clocks · Early 17th century
Table clock, probably Denmark, early 17th century
German Clock Museum