Studio: international art (26.1902)

Long Case Clocks

us has not, as a child, surreptitiously opened the
door of the case to gaze on the weights or to watch
the swing of the pendulum. The pendulum is
really the essence of the whole thing, for the long
case was brought into existence by the invention
of mechanism which allowed so long a pendulum
to swing in so confined a space.

Long case clocks have as a rule been very badly
treated by artists. For a single faithful representa-
tion of an existing specimen one may find twenty
pictures where features of different periods have
been introduced into the same timekeeper. This
generally occurs probably through the painter of

FIG. 5.—INLAID CLOCK FIG. 6.—CLOCK, WITH

BY DANIEL QUARE "OYSTER SHELL" VE-

NEER, BY JOSEPH KNIBB

the picture trusting to his memory for detail, or
instinctively adapting some little trait which he
admires, or which he always associates with that
particular form of "grandfather." But the re-
casing of old clocks will often account for dis-
crepancies between the case and the dial. Whether
minute criticism of detail be desirable or not, we
shall all agree that anachronisms, great or small,
had better be avoided if possible.

The earliest long case clocks were comparatively
small in size, with square dials, and had no door
to the hood, which had consequently to be taken
off completely before the clock could be wound.
During the time of William III. the cases were
frequently covered with marquetry work of more
or less artistic merit, generally the production of
Dutch artists, many of whom had settled in London
at that time. Spirally fluted, or " corkscrew,"
pillars at the angles of the hood, though character-
istic of the early period, were often used for clocks
made in the reign of Queen Anne. Sometimes the
cases had a bull's-eye of bottle glass let in the
door opposite the pendulum bob, causing a peculiar
appearance as it swung to and fro, the bob being
magnified and distorted when seen through the
glass.

The hour circles on the dials have many dis-
tinguishing marks. In the earliest specimens,
before the adoption of the minute hand, the double
circles within the numerals, as seen in lantern
clocks, are retained; and between them the hour
is divided into quarters, the half-hour being shown
by a longer stroke terminating'in a fleur-de-lis or
similar ornament. With the minute hand and
double outer circles, the divisions on the outer
edge had, besides the numerals denoting the
number of minutes, a cross or dagger marking the
half-quarters. There was no lack of engraving
on the early dials, especially on those of the
William III. and Queen Anne periods. Around
the edge was often a herring-bone or laurel-leaf
border, and occasionally the whole of the central
space within the hour ring was finely embellished
with engraving; more often the centre was matted,
and in some examples a sketch in the form of
birds and foliage bordered the aperture showing
the day of the month; this had a good effect
when burnished bright in contrast to the matting.
Further relief was given by turning a number of
rings around the winding holes. On the earliest
of the seventeenth - century clocks the maker's
name was as a rule inscribed in a straight line
along the bottom of the dial, usually in Latin, thus
—"Henricus Jones, Londini, fecit," visible only

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