Longcase clock with calendar
Joseph Knibb
ca. 1680–85 · Case: walnut and oak veneered with walnut; dial: gilded and silvered brass; movement: brass, steel · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Joseph Knibb was an outstanding clockmaker in London in the generation that included such illustrious names as Fromanteel and Thomas Tompion. The familiar longcase, or grandfather, clock exemplified here was developed in England in the latter part of the seventeenth century in response to improvements in the technology of the pendulum. The older narrow-trunked case gave way to a form with wider proportions, which allowed the new, long pendulum to swing undisturbed. The gilded and matted dial of this splendid clock has a silvered-brass skeleton chapter of hours typical of Knibb’s finest work. Knibb’s movement goes for eight days on a single winding and strikes the hours and quarters on separate bells.
- Artist
- Joseph Knibb
- Date
- ca. 1680–85
- Medium
- Case: walnut and oak veneered with walnut; dial: gilded and silvered brass; movement: brass, steel
- Culture
- British, London
- Department
- European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Credit line
- Bequest of Irwin Untermyer, 1973
