Innovation & Collaboration
The oldest working clock in Britain is dated c 1386 and housed in Salisbury Cathedral. This magnificent yet primitive timepiece, made without a dial, called monks to worship. The friars in turn would ring the cathedral’s bells to summon the congregation.
The wonderful exhibition of clocks – Innovation and Collaboration – explored the early development of the pendulum clock which revolutionised accurate timekeeping. It focused on the ‘golden age’ of clocks and watches in London that is largely captured in the hundred-year period of the seventeenth century. The objects shown in the exhibition were treasured by the individuals who commissioned them. Early clockmaking was both labour and capital-intensive, so clocks were expensive and largely made to order.
An examination of these historic clocks allows us to celebrate precision engineering at a time before even the humble metal screw was invented. Much of the painstaking and skilful work would have been done by candlelight in London workshops along Fleet Street, just a few miles from Mayfair, where the exhibition took place. Clockmaking was a collaborative and creative process; started by blacksmiths used to hammering wrought iron and then bringing together many other skills – casting, wheel-cutting, chasing, engraving, cabinet making and marquetry work. Whilst there is much debate over who inspired who as far as the very first pendulum clocks are concerned - what is certain is that there was extensive collaboration amongst the clockmakers themselves.
What is also now clear is the fact that clock designs influenced furniture design. It was the clockmakers, looking to house their dials and mechanisms in metaphorical “shrines”, who inspired wood turners and furniture makers to use precious woods from newly-discovered overseas territories, giving birth to the art of cabinetmaking. These craftsmen used veneers of hardwood on a frame of oak or pine to mix utility with aesthetics, creating delights out of exotic Princes wood and ebony, as well as English walnut.
Perhaps ironically many of these master clock and watchmakers, who studied the art of precision and measurement, left very little information about themselves. Samuel Knibb, all of whose signed clocks are on display, was a particularly enigmatic character.
But what a wealth of information is conveyed through the clocks and watches themselves! Some say that the spirit of the makers lives within the instruments’ workings and the chimes you hear are the same notes heard centuries ago. To listen to a clock striking is a sound to behold. To hear a musical clock is magical and to experience clocks chiming together is like listening to an orchestra in full flow.
These rare and beautiful clocks rely on being carefully maintained and cherished by their current owners and this exhibition has been made possible because of the generous support of two collectors, Dr John C Taylor OBE and another private individual who wishes to remain anonymous. We are also very grateful to the other owners who lent their precious exhibits. The majority of clocks have come from private homes, rarely seen by the public, and there were also wonderful objects from public collections including the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and the Science Museum, London. We thank them all for their significant contribution to this magnificent exhibition.
Here, the exhibition’s curator Richard Garnier explains the themes of the exhibition.
The wonderful exhibition of clocks – Innovation and Collaboration – explored the early development of the pendulum clock which revolutionised accurate timekeeping. It focused on the ‘golden age’ of clocks and watches in London that is largely captured in the hundred-year period of the seventeenth century. The objects shown in the exhibition were treasured by the individuals who commissioned them. Early clockmaking was both labour and capital-intensive, so clocks were expensive and largely made to order.
An examination of these historic clocks allows us to celebrate precision engineering at a time before even the humble metal screw was invented. Much of the painstaking and skilful work would have been done by candlelight in London workshops along Fleet Street, just a few miles from Mayfair, where the exhibition took place. Clockmaking was a collaborative and creative process; started by blacksmiths used to hammering wrought iron and then bringing together many other skills – casting, wheel-cutting, chasing, engraving, cabinet making and marquetry work. Whilst there is much debate over who inspired who as far as the very first pendulum clocks are concerned - what is certain is that there was extensive collaboration amongst the clockmakers themselves.
What is also now clear is the fact that clock designs influenced furniture design. It was the clockmakers, looking to house their dials and mechanisms in metaphorical “shrines”, who inspired wood turners and furniture makers to use precious woods from newly-discovered overseas territories, giving birth to the art of cabinetmaking. These craftsmen used veneers of hardwood on a frame of oak or pine to mix utility with aesthetics, creating delights out of exotic Princes wood and ebony, as well as English walnut.
Perhaps ironically many of these master clock and watchmakers, who studied the art of precision and measurement, left very little information about themselves. Samuel Knibb, all of whose signed clocks are on display, was a particularly enigmatic character.
But what a wealth of information is conveyed through the clocks and watches themselves! Some say that the spirit of the makers lives within the instruments’ workings and the chimes you hear are the same notes heard centuries ago. To listen to a clock striking is a sound to behold. To hear a musical clock is magical and to experience clocks chiming together is like listening to an orchestra in full flow.
These rare and beautiful clocks rely on being carefully maintained and cherished by their current owners and this exhibition has been made possible because of the generous support of two collectors, Dr John C Taylor OBE and another private individual who wishes to remain anonymous. We are also very grateful to the other owners who lent their precious exhibits. The majority of clocks have come from private homes, rarely seen by the public, and there were also wonderful objects from public collections including the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and the Science Museum, London. We thank them all for their significant contribution to this magnificent exhibition.
Here, the exhibition’s curator Richard Garnier explains the themes of the exhibition.
