Clocks · Tall clock
Tall clock by Tiffany & Co., United States, c. 1880
- Maker / attribution
- Tiffany & Co. (manufacturer)
- Date
- c. 1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- United States
- Place
- America, New York
- Object type
- Tall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, teak with dial faces of gilded and patinated metal, glass
- Dimensions
- Overall: 247.3 x 66 x 36.5 cm (97 3/8 x 26 x 14 3/8 in.)
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession / object no.
- 1992.70
- Credit line
- The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tall Clock (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art (object number 1992.70), this is a tall clock by Tiffany & Co., made in America, New York, United States, dated c. 1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, teak with dial faces of gilded and patinated metal, glass. Recorded dimensions: Overall: 247.3 x 66 x 36.5 cm (97 3/8 x 26 x 14 3/8 in.). The record is illustrated with 4 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
Description — Cleveland Museum of Art
In 1879, Louis Comfort Tiffany joined several other artisans to create an interior decoration firm called Associated Artists. The firm was very influential in advocating a rejection of historical styles in favor of the new fashion from more eclectic sources of inspiration, including the Islamic world and Japan. One of Tiffany's partners, Lockwood De Forest, traveled extensively in India to find carved wood and other decorative accessories that could be used in their designs. This clock's design was one result of this collaboration. The heavily carved panels on the clock were likely purchased in India during this time and assembled with a clock mechanism from Tiffany's father's shop, Tiffany and Co., whose name appears on the clock face.
Inscriptions & marks
lower dial face inscribed: Tiffany & Co., Makers.
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific 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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