BRACKET CLOCKS. EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY. DATE, ABOUT 1805.

Maker, Barraud (London).
Height, 17 in. Width, 12 in. Depth, 6 in.

Maker, Strowbridge (Dawlish).
Height, 16 in. Width, 10 in. Depth, 6½ in.

Many clocks of the last quarter of the eighteenth century show the lingering styles of the earlier decades. It is impossible to lay down any definite rule in furniture, in silver, or in old clocks, that in such a year a certain style ends. Approximately, one may determine periods and by close application discover slight indications of new styles beginning to take the town. Now and again one comes across examples a great many years behind the time, especially in provincial makers, where fashions in cases were not so frequently changed.

Illustrated on p. [199] are two clocks; one, in date 1770, by Alexander Cumming, is only 14 inches in height; the other, 1800, having no maker's name, is 15¾ inches high. A new and very pleasing form is introduced. We see the dial in process of losing its lunette. It makes its ascent on the case to take its place as in later styles. This raising of the dial affected the top of the case, which became of circular form. The transitional period is shown by the ornament remaining in the right-hand clock in the lower spandrels. The case-maker had not quite assimilated the changing form. It is interesting to note that in both these clocks the handles of the early portable clock are reintroduced.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the circular dial had become established. An interesting transitional clock by Barraud (p. [201]), in date 1805, shows that the case-maker was averse to parting with the lunette. He accordingly places the dial in the centre of the case and has a crescent-shaped ornament, with a design adapted by the metal-worker from the Chinese potter. Of the same date is a provincial clock by Strowbridge, of Dawlish. Here the maker has boldly adopted the circular top, and the result is a case of pleasing proportions.