A learned dissertation on clocks and the theory of time would be out of
place in a volume of this description, and anything we have to say
concerning the clocks of the "walnut period" will, of necessity, be of a
popular nature. In England the chamber clocks, as distinguished from the
costly and elaborate timepieces which adorned public buildings, appear
to have been introduced about the year 1600.[6] The type is fairly
familiar, and is known as the "lantern," "bird-cage," or "bedpost."
Amongst dealers such clocks are usually styled "lantern" or "Cromwell."
They usually stood on a wall-bracket, but sometimes were suspended from
a nail. The clocks are built of brass surmounted by a bell, sometimes
used for striking the hours and sometimes only for an alarm. The clocks
were often housed in hooded oak cases, which protected them from the
dust.
[6] Strictly speaking, De Vyck's clock, invented about 1370, is
the earliest known type of the domestic clock. Made for the
wealthy few in days when the generality of people did not look
upon clocks as necessities, they only exist to-day as rare museum
specimens.
These original cases are sometimes met with and are interesting in
themselves, but the brass clocks are more ornamental when minus the
cases. These clocks were made to run for thirty hours, the motive power
being a heavy weight with a cord or chain. At first the vertical verge
movement was used, but about 1658 the pendulum was introduced. The
alternate bobbing in and out of the short pendulum through slits in
either side of the clock accounts for the term "bob" pendulum. It has
been noticed that the doors of these early clocks were often constructed
from old sundial plates, the engraved figures of the sundial still
showing on the insides. Doubtless the sundial makers, finding their
trade falling off, used the materials in hand for the new-fangled
clocks. The dial-plate of the early lantern clock is circular, with a
band of metal (sometimes silvered) for the numerals, which at first were
rather short. About 1640 the hour-hands were made wider and the numerals
longer. After about 1660, we find the circular dial growing larger in
relation to the body of the clock and protruding slightly on either
side. During the latter years of Queen Anne's reign the dial-plates
often protruded as much as two or three inches on either side. This did
not improve the general appearance. Clocks of this pattern are known as
the "sheep's head." With such slight variations the lantern clock was
made from Elizabeth's to George III.'s reigns. The late ones, probably
made by provincial clock-makers, have square dials with arched tops.
The tops of the square cases of the lantern clocks are often surrounded
by fretted galleries. As a rule the four fretted pieces are all of one
pattern, but generally the front one only is engraved. A favourite form
of fret is that in which the crossed dolphins appear; this pattern came
in between 1660 and 1670. These lantern clocks with ornamental galleries
are furnished with bells as wide as the clock-case suspended from two
intersecting arched bands stretching from corner to corner. They are
finished off by the addition of a turned pinnacle at each corner and a
fifth one on the apex of the bell. Such clocks were apparently not
intended to be covered by an outer wooden case. They would not be
greatly harmed by dust, as they contain no delicate mechanism.
These old-world lantern clocks were practically indestructible, and
until a few years ago they could be found in plenty in the old
farm-houses, and would fetch but a pound or two at auction. Of recent
years, with the growth of the collecting habit, the dealers have found a
ready market, and to-day a well-made lantern clock in original condition
has an appreciable value of from five to ten pounds. They have but a
single hand, like the old clock on Westminster Abbey, and consequently
to tell the exact time of day is a matter of guess-work, as only the
quarters are marked. To tell the time within a quarter of an hour would
have been sufficient for the original owners, who had no trains to
catch. The usual process to-day is to substitute a modern eight-day
"fuzee" movement for the old thirty-hour "verge." Thus, by eliminating
the chain and weight, the clock is adapted for a place on the
mantelshelf. From a decorative point of view it is difficult to conceive
anything more charming as a finish to a "walnut period" room.
Fig. 67 is a "bird-cage" clock at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The
dial, which is very nicely engraved with a flower design, is signed
"Andrew Prime Londini Fecit." It has dolphin-pattern frets on three
sides. The side frets are engraved to match the front one. This clock
cost the museum £4 4s. in 1892. Andrew Prime was admitted to the
Clockmakers' Company in 1647, and we shall be within the mark in
assuming that the clock was made some time between that date and 1680.
The dolphin decoration would, indeed, point to a date not earlier than
1660, and, furthermore, the length of the pendulum would suggest not
earlier than 1675.
In Fig. 68 we give an illustration of a small lantern clock by Anthony
Marsh, of London, with its original hooded oak case.
Fig. 69 is the same clock shown without the hood. This subject was
kindly lent for illustration by Mr. Whittaker, of 46 Wilton Road,
London, S.W., one of the comparatively few remaining clock-makers
following the old-time traditions. A talk with Mr. Whittaker in his
workshop takes us back to the old days of individual work at the lathe
and bench, when each clock-maker was an artist with ideas of his own--a
clock-maker in every sense of the word, making his own parts by hand
instead of, as in these days, buying them by the gross from the factory.
Anthony Marsh, the maker of the clock illustrated, was a member of the
Clockmakers' Company in 1724, and worked "at ye dial opposite Bank of
England." Marsh is a well-known name amongst the clock-making
fraternity, no less than fifteen of the name following the trade between
1691 and 1842.
Contemporary with the lantern clocks of the middle period (about 1660)
we find the "bracket" or "pedestal" clocks enclosed by wooden cases, as
distinguished from the brass-cased chamber clocks. The earlier patterns
had flat tops with brass handles for carrying. Sometimes they were
surmounted by perforated metal domes, resembling inverted baskets, to
which the handles were fixed. As time went on the tops of the
clock-cases were made more dome-shaped and the baskets and handles were
elaborately chased. The cases, often of exquisite workmanship, were
generally constructed of oak or ebony, and as timepieces these clocks,
by skilled makers, were far superior to the generality of lantern clocks
of the country-side. We associate these bracket-clocks with such names
as Tompion, Graham, and Quare.
Thomas Tompion, "the father of English watchmaking," was born at
Northill, in Bedfordshire, in 1638, and died in London in 1713. He was
the leading watchmaker at the Court of Charles II. George Graham,
Tompion's favourite pupil, was born in Cumberland in 1673, and died in
London in 1751. He was known as "Honest George Graham," and was probably
the most accomplished British horologist of his own or any age. He was
admitted a freeman of the Clockmakers' Company on completion of his
apprenticeship in 1695, when he entered the service of Tompion. A
lifelong friendship was only severed by the death of Tompion in 1713.
Graham was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1720, and made a
member of the Society's council in 1732. Even to-day Graham's
"dead-beat escapement" is used in most pendulum clocks constructed for
really accurate time-keeping. The site of Graham's shop in Fleet Street
is now occupied by the offices of _The Sporting Life_. Tompion and
Graham lie in one grave in the nave of Westminster Abbey, near the grave
of David Livingstone. Daniel Quare, a contemporary maker of first rank,
was born in 1648 and died in 1734. He was Clockmaker to William III.
There is a fine example of a tall clock by Quare at Hampton Court
Palace. Quare was the inventor of the repeating watch.
Fig. 70 is a bracket clock in marquetry case made by John Martin, of
London, in the seventeenth century. It is fitted with "rack striking
work" invented by Edward Barlow (born 1636, died 1716). It will be
noticed that the corners of the dial-plate are ornamented with the
winged cherubs' heads which we find so often in the scheme of decoration
of Sir Christopher Wren's churches. This clock, lent by Lieut.-Col. G.
B. C. Lyons, may be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The "bracket" clocks were the favourite household timepieces before the
introduction of the long-cased or grandfather clocks, which came in some
time between 1660 and 1670. The earliest long-cased clocks were
furnished with the "bob" pendulum. The long or "royal" pendulum was
introduced about 1676. The "bob" pendulum clock-cases were very
narrow--just wide enough to comfortably accommodate the chain and
weights, the primal idea of the case being merely to hide the chains and
weights. The wide swing of the long pendulum necessitated more room in
the case, and examples are found with added wings, showing that long
pendulums have been added to the old movements.
As with the lantern clocks, the early long clocks had thirty-hour
movements; but the great makers, such as Tompion, Graham, and Quare,
constructed clocks to run for eight days, a month, three months, and
even a year. The introduction of the eight-day movement appears to have
been coincident with the long pendulum.
The cases of the grandfather clocks, in the main, harmonised with the
other furniture of the period. The majority of them were built of oak,
and those of country make were generally plain. Many were veneered with
walnut, and others (more rarely) with ebony. With the advent of William
III. came the taste for marquetry work, and the long-cased clocks
received their due share of this form of ornamentation. The fronts were
often pierced with an oval or circular hole filled with greenish
bull's-eye glass, through which the swinging pendulum bob could be seen.
About 1710 the taste for marquetry began to wane. The lacquering craze
was at its height. Clock-cases were sent out to China to receive
treatment at the hands of the Chinese lacquerers. It was a lengthy and
expensive process: it probably would take a year or so with the slow
travelling and slow drying of the various coats of lacquer. We show, in
the chapter on lacquered furniture, how the growing demand was met by
the English and Dutch lacquerers, who adopted less expensive and more
expeditious, if less satisfactory, methods.
It is in the nature of things that the old long-cased clocks were gently
treated, and, consequently, genuine old specimens are still fairly
plentiful. Old thirty-hour clocks in plain oak cases with painted dials
may still be bought for four or five pounds apiece, whilst reliable
eight-day clocks of fair make will fetch anything from five to ten
pounds. We cannot expect to get a Tompion or Graham clock for anything
like these prices. We had the opportunity five years ago of buying a
magnificent Graham clock in a mahogany case of fine proportions for £20.
It was the chance of a lifetime, and--the chance was missed.
The three illustrations we give (Figs. 71, 72, and 73) represent fine
examples of marquetry-decorated clocks at the Victoria and Albert
Museum. The simple naturalesque style of marquetry, showing direct Dutch
influence, is shown in Fig. 71. The carnations are exceedingly lifelike.
The dial-plate of this clock, which is still in good going order, bears
the inscription "Mansell Bennett at Charing Cross." It was probably made
about 1690. Figs. 72 and 73 represent the more typically English style
of delicate geometrical marquetry work, dating from about 1700. In both
of these clocks the fretted bands of wood beneath the cornices, as well
as the nature of the marquetry, would point to a later period than that
of the Mansell Bennett clock. They belong to the Queen Anne period. Fig.
72 was made by Henry Poisson, who worked in London from 1695 to 1720.
Fig. 73, unfortunately a clock-case only, has the original green
bull's-eye glass in the door.
A word of warning may be in place in regard to grandfather clocks with
carved oak cases. Such things purporting to be "200 years old" are often
advertised for sale, but are scarcely likely to be genuine. Speaking for
ourselves, we have never seen one which bore the impress of genuineness.
We must bear in mind that at the date of the introduction of the long
case--say 1660-1670--the practice of carving furniture was rapidly on
the wane, and by the end of the century had practically ceased. In this
connection we quote that great authority on old clocks, Mr. F. J.
Britten, who says: "Dark oak cases carved in high relief do not seem to
have been the fashion of any particular period, but the result rather of
occasional efforts by enthusiastic artists in wood, and then in most
instances they appear to have been made to enclose existing clocks in
substitution of inferior or worn-out coverings."
In regard to the wonderful time-keeping qualities of old grandfather
clocks, Mr. H. H. Cunyngham, in his useful little book, "Time and
Clocks," expresses the opinion that the secret lies in the length of
the pendulum. "This," he writes, "renders it possible to have but a
small arc of oscillation, and therefore the motion is kept very nearly
harmonious. For practical purposes nothing will even now beat these
old clocks, of which one should be in every house. At present the
tendency is to abolish them and substitute American clocks with very
short pendulums, which never can keep good time. They are made of
stamped metal and, when they get out of order, no one thinks of having
them mended. They are thrown into the ashpit and a new one bought. In
reality this is not economy."
Mr. Cunyngham's remarks point the moral as to the economy of the long
clock. But we should say, more strictly speaking, that German and
Austrian wall and bracket clocks have to a large extent taken the place
of the old English long-cased clocks. The shortness of the pendulum is
not of necessity the weak point. The bracket clocks of the best English
makers since the seventeenth century, with short pendulums, have been
noted for their reliability as timekeepers. Efficiency from a badly
constructed clock, be it American, German or English, can scarcely be
expected.
As we have already suggested, fine clocks by the great masters are
now beyond the means of the modest collector; but serviceable and
decorative grandfather clocks of the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries are still obtainable at moderate prices. In many
cases the dials show great taste in the art of engraving. We must bear
in mind that the majority of these clocks--particularly those with
the painted dials and plain oak cases--were the joint productions of
the country clock-maker and the country joiner, and numbers of them
have the very smallest pretentions to correctness of design. We find
clock-cases which have the appearance of being "all plinth"; others are
too long or too short or too wide in the body; others are overweighted
in the head; and, again, others are too shallow and have an unhappy
appearance of being flattened out against the wall. The old oak
clock-case of perfect proportions is comparatively rare. The collector
must studiously avoid any clock-case which is "obviously out of
drawing," and in the main his eye will guide him in the selection. We
are indebted to Mr. Stuart Parker, an experienced amateur collector of
clocks, for a carefully thought-out opinion as to the ideal dimensions
of a clock-case.
Supposing a full-sized clock-case 7 ft. 6 in. high: the three main
sections should measure as follows:
The plinth: 2 ft. high and 1 ft. 10 in. wide.
The body: 3 ft. high and 1 ft. 4½ in. wide.
The head: 2 ft. 6 in. high and 1 ft. 10 in. wide.
The width is taken at the middle of each of the three sections. The
base of the plinth and the cornices of the head section should each
measure 2 ft. 1 in. in width.