George III Bracket Clock by John Holland (1792)

• Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
  
  For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
  
  Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
• Fusee - The fusee movement was used in clocks and pocket watches from the mid 17th century. The fusee is a cone shaped drum within the works that is linked to the barrel of the spring, usually by a length of chain.
  
  As the mainspring loses its tension over time, the cone shaped barrel compensates for this by increasing the tension, by pulling the mainspring tighter, thus ensuring the time remains constant.
  
  Use of the fusee in clocks was superseded by the "going barrel" in the mid 19th century and for pocket watches at the beginning of the 19th century.
  
  The fusee continued to be used in marine chronometers until the 1970s.
• Chapter Ring - A separate metal plate on the face of a clock, on which the numerals for the hours and sometimes parts of the hours, are displayed, usually wheel shaped and sitting on top of the dial plate. The chapter ring is often a feature of the clock and can be silvered or enamelled to stand as a contrast to its background. The hours are usually shown in Roman numerals, although in the late 19th and earlt 20th century, Arabic numerals became fashionable.
• George Iii - George III (1738 - 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820.
• Movement - The technical name for the workings of a clock or watch, and does not include the dial or case.
• Spandrel - An architectural term that in horology refers to the triangular ornamental decoration in the corners of of the dial plate. The spandrels are usually of cast brass and may be additonally chased and engraved. On painted dial clocks the spandrels are also usually painted.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• clocks, type - bracket 335