Clocks · Longcase clock
Walnut grandfather clock by John Berry, London, c. 1735
- Maker / attribution
- John Berry (maker)
- Date
- c. 1735
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- walnut
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 11 in (211 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 208
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 208)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Walnut Grandfather Clock by John Berry of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 208), this is a longcase clock by John Berry, made in London, England, dated c. 1735. 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 11 in (211 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
An unusually small 18th century London Grandfather clock with very well figured walnut veneers. The 8 day duration 5 pillar movement striking the hours on a bell and with recoil anchor escapement. The full brass dial with a separate silvered brass chapter ring, finely matted centre, seconds, date and strike/silent facility to the arch. The makers name of John Berry of London signed to a silvered brass oval cartouche. Also with well cut blued steel hands. The small walnut veneered case with book matched veneer to the trunk door and base. Extensive cross-grained mouldings throughout and with the rare use of flame veneered walnut to the sides of the case. The base with a substantial double plinth. The hood with plain walnut pillars, brass Doric capitals and also with quarter pillars to the rear of the hood and glass panels to the sides. The flat top with intricate blind sound frets to the front of the hood. Note: Born in 1670, John Berry was apprenticed to the eminent maker John Ebsworth in August 1684 and was Free in April 1692. He is known to have worked at the Dial in St. Clements Lane, Lombard Street. He was Assistant to the Clockmakers Company in 1717, Warden in 1720 and Master in 1723. Maker Berry of London
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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