The Home Beautiful: The Talbert Clock, c. 1865

Gothic Revival Clock
Bruce Talbert, 1865
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Gothic Revival soared in Britain in the 1860s and 1870s. Known for the incorporation of architectural themes and shapes, the revival interjected a stateliness to the most commonplace objects. Clocks were the perfect form for this style. This example from the V&A by Bruce Talbert shows the architectural quality of clocks of this era. 

Bruce Talbert (1838-1881) was is remembered as a highly celebrated commercial designer who designed metalwork, furniture, textiles, carpets, wallpapers and stained glass. Talbert was also an author, known for his significant 1868 book, “Gothic Forms Applied to Furniture, Metal Work and Decoration for Domestic Purposes.” The tome was full of illustrations depicting a range of designs which Talbert created in the Gothic Revival style. Talbert famously designed lines of furniture for Skidmores of Coventry—a prominent and fashionable manufacturer of architectural metalwork. Skidmores of Coventry made this clock around 1865.

Monumental in scale, the clock is ostensibly a large bracket clock in the form of a building with columns supporting an ornamental roof. Both The front of the piece is enameled with patterns inspired by Celtic designs. Inscribed below clock face are the Latin words “TEMPUS FUGIT.” The base is marked “SKIDMORE COVENTRY.”