Longcase clock, Daniel Delander, London, 1740
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
c.1740
Daniel Delander was apprenticed in1692 to Charles Halstead and became a member of the Clockmakers Company in 1699. He worked with Thomas Tompion, before moving to his own premises in Devereux Court, Temple Bar. There is a long case clock by Delander in Child's Bank in Fleet Street. Examples of his watches are in the Pierpont Morgan collection, New York City. This clock has a duplex escape movement.
A longcase clock in a case of mahogany with canted front corners, the base section set on the front with mouldings outlining an octagonal panel, the doors to the trunk with an arched top edge, the hood with a caddy top supporting three brass ball finials. Case: Mahogany. Plinth, base, trunk and hood, including pedestal brackets, with canted corners to front. Low break-arch top to trunk door with moulded border to edges. Concave moulding below hood. Sliding hood with low break-arch to cornice, concave section frieze and glazed front door, itself with moulded border. The whole surmounted by a caddy top flanked by two finials mounted on short pedestals, the top centre with single finial mounted on a bracketed pedestal. Break-arched topped glazed panels to hood sides.
Octagonal, moulded-edged panel in centre of base; squat feet to plinth. Trunk door hinges packed up on undersides and vacant holes evident on both door and trunk hinges. Trunk door colour lighter than the rest of case. Inside trunk crudely scalloped out on both sides at same height as pendulum bob. Dial: Brass, low break-arch, total height 14¼ inches, central portion 12 inches square. Centre matted, winding squares concealed by matted shutters; square calendar aperture with bevelled edges located in lower portion of centre. Foliate engravings flank central, oval plaque engraved: Delander / London in break-arch. Female head with headdress spandrels each located by a single screw. Semi-circular slot for the maintaining power lever on the proper left of dial plate.
Pinned to the dial plate is the silvered brass chapter ring with engraved minute band having single dots and Arabic minute numerals each at five minute intervals. The quarter hour band with opposed arrows at the hour and small lozenges on the outer line each every half hour. Roman hour numerals. Engraved, lozenge-shaped half-hour markers. Pinned to the dial plate below "XII is the subsidiary seconds ring of silvered brass, with engraved seconds band and Arabic numerals at intervals of five; its diameter is such that a small space exists between bottom of the ring and central hole for the hands. A silvered brass ring with engraved Arabic numerals for the date (1-31) runs behind the dial on brass pulleys.
Four dial feet are attached to the movement front plate by pinning. Hands: Steel. Pierced and partially chiselled. Movement: Brass and steel, weight driven hour striking of 8-day duration with so-called duplex escapement, pendulum regulated. Five pillars with turned lines and grooved central knop riveted to the backplate, pinned at the front. Hour striking on bell is controlled by a near vertical outside rack which carrying a pin, operates a locking detent. Brass train wheels with four semicircular crossings. Where visible, scribed lines on faces. Three-spoked crossings on cannon pinion and minute wheel, latter being colleted onto minute pinion arbor, the whole located on front plate by a cock.
Skeletonised snail mounted on crossed-out hour wheel (four spokes). Domed wheel collets except escape and warning which are conical. Barrel-shaped steel arbors are with relatively short pinion heads. Bolt and shutter maintaining power acts on centre wheel teeth, its driving spring mounted on inside front plate. Both shutters carried on one lever. Each pallet is separate: impulse pallet (between plates) riveted to pallet arbor; locking pallet (outside backplate) partially located by screwed piece. Crutch attached to pallet arbor by brass collet. Substantial backcock with a semicircular underside occupies full width of backplate.
Escapement locking wheel of large diameter is mounted outside backplate on separate cock below backcock; the smaller diameter escape wheel (which provides impulse) is located between plates rather in usual longcase manner. Bevelling to edges of some components. Bell standard is screwed to outside of front plate. Backcock, has plugged hole above the present pallet pivot hole and below, an unused threaded hole. Similar arrangement on front plate except that threaded is hole occupied by a screw with an offset head. Pendulum with broad, double suspension spring, leading into brass rod of upper portion, leading into main rod in form of steel strip. Lead-filled brass bob supported by engraved, graduated rating nut screwed onto coarse-pitched rating thread. Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 3
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
Bequeathed by Claude Rotch, acquired in Taunton in 1934. This clock was exhibited at the Science Museum in 1952 in an exhibition entitled 'British Clockmakers' Heritage', exbn. no. 147. From the 1970s to 1993 this clock was exhibited in Gallery 40. In 1992 it was noted that several small sections of moulding were missing (see diagram in object file).
Members of the Antiquarian Horological Society, during a visit in 2000, suggested that the door had undergone restoration and lost mouldings that would have matched those on the front of the base. A number clocks with a similar style of case and movement appear to have been made by Delander. Delander No. 15 in a walnut case.
The description notes that this is one of a short series of longcase clocks by Delander, other recorded examples include No. 13, Untermeyer Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, No.14, No.15 and, No.17 which was exhibited at Grosvenor House, 1950 and is now in the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois.
This movement does have similarities with W.40-1962 although the case differs; the dial is signed Delander. The movement of No.17 does have many details similar to W.40-1962, although the dial is inscribed Dan. Delander. Percy Dawson believes that the Ellicott and Delander design of case were probably few in number and all made by the same maker most likely within a year or so of each other.
His logic for this is that John Ellicott was in business from 1728, whilst Delander died 1733; the cases must have been c.1730, despite dates of these clocks generally being given as 1715-1740 (Dawson, P.G. Longcase Clocks of a Distinctive Design. Antiquarian Horology, Vol.16, No.5, March 1987, pp479-481).
Whilst it would seem that W.40-1962 is a Delander, the absence of the Christian name Daniel in any form of on the dial inscription is odd; the clock does not appear to be an early example where the Christian name might have been omitted, as for example on the Christies 2002 specimen which is dated at 1710.
An alternative explanation is that W.40-1962 is a very late example, perhaps being finished at the time of, or shortly after Daniel’s death, possibly by Nathaniel Delander. The escapement used in these series of clocks bears some resemblance to the early form of the duplex escapement used in watches.
Delander’s escapement seemingly pre-dates that used in watches, although he never apparently published any report of his work. Robinson claims that the design achieves greater accuracy because the pendulum is more independent of the escapement, receiving impulse every other swing. The large arc of some 10º results in serious circular error (Robinson, T.R., The Longcase Clock, Woodbridge, 1995).
It could also be argued however, that the design may be an attempt to compensate escapement error with circular error resulting in stable timekeeping irrespective of minor variations in driving force. Some further work is required here. What is interesting is that the insides of the trunk of W.40-1962 are scalloped out to accommodate a large swing of the pendulum.
This observation might be used to support a premise that this type of case (with canted corners and shallow break-arch) was of a standard design adapted to the movement, rather than the other way round. The presence of a similar case used on an Ellicott might be supporting evidence. This example shows an early use of mahogany in clock case making.
It is interesting to speculate from where this design came: Delander is sometimes credited with its development. Some continental furniture at, or before this date shows some similarities for example from Germany. During the nineteenth century, somewhat similar case designs to that of the Delander were used on the Continent. The colour of the trunk door and the built up hinges are difficult to explain.
The rack striking as seen in this Delander was introduced by George Graham, Tompion’s successor, although it is to be found on the odd late Tompion. The mobiles of the striking work are mounted on long arbors, whilst the rack falls under gravity (Penney, D., Personal Communication); the association of Tompion and Delander can be seen in use of this layout in W.40-1962.
The Catalogue of the Henry P. Strauss Collection of Clocks, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts shows an illustration of a Savage of Ormskirk with a somewhat similarly canted cornered case. Despite detailed differences but it has the similar shaped break-arch and half-hour lozenge marks. A second comparable Savage is known to exist (Boney, G., Was Banger Really Fired?
A tale of two nephews, Antiquarian Horology, Vol.27, No.4, June 1984, pp392-405). Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008 (assistance gratefully acknowledged to J. Evans)
Physical characteristics
- Material
- Mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height: 245.5 cm; Width: 46 cm; Depth: 25.5 cm
Technical characteristics
- Maker recorded
- Delander, Daniel
- Place recorded
- London
Identification
- Source note
- Transcribed from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London collection record for this single object (sentences kept verbatim apart from removed sale or rarity wording); how far it represents a wider collectible type has not been independently verified.
- Candidate id
- vam-O53200
- Museum object name
- Longcase clock
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Museum object number
- W.40:1to2-1962
- Museum system number
- O53200
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm the wider type, maker and dating against a specialist reference; this entry documents one recorded example.