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Lot Essay
JAMES COX
This magnificent automaton watch and musical and automaton cabinet is a tour-de-force of the craftsmanship of the London jeweller, gold/silversmith and automata supplier, the pre-eminent and entrepreneurial James Cox (c. 1723-1800) of 103 Shoe Lane, London, who led the field in the export of watches, musical clocks and automata to the Qing Dynasty Emperors and the Imperial Court. His most celebrated works include the great Peacock automaton in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, and the Silver Swan automaton now in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle.
The St. James's Chronicle of 27-29 August 1772 reported that a shipment of 'English Toys' had been refused entry to China and had returned to London. This appears to have been the impetus behind Cox's opening of a Museum at Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, where the paying public could view his stock in trade. It was in the kunstkammer tradition and such private museums of curiosities were much in evidence at this period; such as Sir Ashton Lever's 'Leverian' (opened 1775) and later William Bullock's 'Egyptian Hall' (opened 1811). Cox's Museum ceased in 1775 when the contents were sold via a Public Lottery. There were also ‘stock in trade’ sales with James Christie in July and December 1772. Another followed in March 1779 but the most significant was the final sale of February 1792, held in Christie's Great Room in Pall Mall. The catalogue listed some fifty-five pieces, albeit offered as one lot, the purchaser having to collect from Canton.
THE COMPARABLE WATCHES AND CABINETS BY JAMES COX
The almost identical pair to the present watch is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1977.436.4a, b), also signed by James Cox and numbered to the backplate ‘1393’, the gold case similarly has the makers’ mark of Peter Mounier. Mounier is recorded working from 1761-73, firstly from Frith Street in Soho. A similar automaton watch, inset to the cover of a nécessaire casket by James Cox is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 6538). Mounier’s mark is also found on the cases of other watches signed by Cox as is the agate panelled outer case (as exhibited by Wartski, Grosvenor House Fair 1954, catalogue, p. 83).
The cabinet is typical of the type of ‘cabinet’ work produced by Cox with its ormolu cage-work framing polished agate panels; Cox described these panels as ‘ruby-colour’d agate’, whereby the colouring of the translucent agate was enhanced by backing it with red foil (see a nécessaire in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated White, op.cit., p. 166, fig. 7.2). In 1767, Cox’s contemporary, Sylas Neville, noted ‘he [Cox] had acquired his great knowledge of precious stones etc by mere force of uncommon natural genius’ (R. Smith, ‘James Cox (c. 1723-1800): A Revised Biography’, The Burlington Magazine, June 2000, p. 354). Such cabinets rest on exotic zoomorphic feet; elephants and dragons as in this example, or rhinoceros, bulls, winged-dolphins and turtles. Two models of elephants reoccur, one with an upward trunk and the other a downward trunk, as on this cabinet, and at least three other examples, including one in the Summer Palace, Beijing (illustrated B. van Wely et al, Sing Song: Schatten uit de Verboden Stad/Treasures from the Forbidden City, Utrecht, 2010, plate 26). His work customarily includes repetitious decorative motifs including mask-and-scroll corner mounts and urns – a leitmotif Cox probably took from the location of his workshop as published on his trade card, ‘at the Golden Urn, in Shoe Lane Fleet Street’ (C. Le Corbeiller, ‘James Cox and his Curious Toys’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, June 1960, p. 323). It is a pattern that altered little from its inception in the 1750s through to the 1780’s (R. Smith, ‘The Sing-Song Trade: exporting clocks to China in the eighteenth century’, Antiquarian Horology, March 2008, p. 635).
This cabinet was undoubtedly intended for the Eastern market; with its elephants, dragons and javelin-carrying tartars it is in what Cox termed ‘the Asiatick taste’. The decorative motif of ‘Tartar figures arm’d with javelins, pointed at dragons’ was also included on a large automaton exhibited at Cox’s Mechanical Museum at 10-14 Spring Gardens, near Charing Cross, London, as listed in his A descriptive inventory of the several exquisite and magnificent pieces of mechanism and jewellery : comprised in the schedule annexed to an act of Parliament, made in the thirteenth year of the reign of His Majesty, George the Third ; for enabling Mr. James Cox of the city of London, jeweller, to dispose of his museum by way of lottery, 1774, p. 45.
Such cabinets were frequently incorporated into much larger configurations, often over two metres high, – this can be seen on ‘The Westminster Swan Clock’, which comprises a musical and automaton cabinet on a large and elaborate gold rockwork plinth (‘The Property of the Duke of Westminster’, Christie’s, London, 7 June 2007, lot 125) and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, by Cox, supported on a standing elephant. The mounting holes to the underside of the elephants on the current lot would indicate this as a possibility here also.
Comparable examples to the present cabinet include: a virtually identical musical and automaton, from the collection of Boni de Castellane and Anna Gould, Christie’s, Paris, 7 March 2017, lot 89 (€290,500, including premium). The musical movement of the Castellane automata was numbered ‘10’, the present movement is numbered ‘11’; A pair of matching nécessaires with timepieces, one in The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum no.: LOAN:GILBERT.35:1 to 13-2008); its pair, formerly with H. Blairman & Sons Ltd. (illustrated: White, op. cit., p. 168, fig. 7.5b); A cabinet with moon phase display, signed, from the collection of His Majesty Farouk I, King of Egypt and Sudan, until 1952, most recently sold ‘The Exceptional Sale’, Christie’s, London, 4 July 2013, lot 27 (£481,875, including premium). The key from this was dated 1766; and a pair of ‘Commode’ clocks, signed, from the Summer Palace, Beijing, (van Wely, op.cit., pp. 104-7).
This magnificent automaton watch and musical and automaton cabinet is a tour-de-force of the craftsmanship of the London jeweller, gold/silversmith and automata supplier, the pre-eminent and entrepreneurial James Cox (c. 1723-1800) of 103 Shoe Lane, London, who led the field in the export of watches, musical clocks and automata to the Qing Dynasty Emperors and the Imperial Court. His most celebrated works include the great Peacock automaton in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, and the Silver Swan automaton now in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle.
The St. James's Chronicle of 27-29 August 1772 reported that a shipment of 'English Toys' had been refused entry to China and had returned to London. This appears to have been the impetus behind Cox's opening of a Museum at Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, where the paying public could view his stock in trade. It was in the kunstkammer tradition and such private museums of curiosities were much in evidence at this period; such as Sir Ashton Lever's 'Leverian' (opened 1775) and later William Bullock's 'Egyptian Hall' (opened 1811). Cox's Museum ceased in 1775 when the contents were sold via a Public Lottery. There were also ‘stock in trade’ sales with James Christie in July and December 1772. Another followed in March 1779 but the most significant was the final sale of February 1792, held in Christie's Great Room in Pall Mall. The catalogue listed some fifty-five pieces, albeit offered as one lot, the purchaser having to collect from Canton.
THE COMPARABLE WATCHES AND CABINETS BY JAMES COX
The almost identical pair to the present watch is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1977.436.4a, b), also signed by James Cox and numbered to the backplate ‘1393’, the gold case similarly has the makers’ mark of Peter Mounier. Mounier is recorded working from 1761-73, firstly from Frith Street in Soho. A similar automaton watch, inset to the cover of a nécessaire casket by James Cox is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 6538). Mounier’s mark is also found on the cases of other watches signed by Cox as is the agate panelled outer case (as exhibited by Wartski, Grosvenor House Fair 1954, catalogue, p. 83).
The cabinet is typical of the type of ‘cabinet’ work produced by Cox with its ormolu cage-work framing polished agate panels; Cox described these panels as ‘ruby-colour’d agate’, whereby the colouring of the translucent agate was enhanced by backing it with red foil (see a nécessaire in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated White, op.cit., p. 166, fig. 7.2). In 1767, Cox’s contemporary, Sylas Neville, noted ‘he [Cox] had acquired his great knowledge of precious stones etc by mere force of uncommon natural genius’ (R. Smith, ‘James Cox (c. 1723-1800): A Revised Biography’, The Burlington Magazine, June 2000, p. 354). Such cabinets rest on exotic zoomorphic feet; elephants and dragons as in this example, or rhinoceros, bulls, winged-dolphins and turtles. Two models of elephants reoccur, one with an upward trunk and the other a downward trunk, as on this cabinet, and at least three other examples, including one in the Summer Palace, Beijing (illustrated B. van Wely et al, Sing Song: Schatten uit de Verboden Stad/Treasures from the Forbidden City, Utrecht, 2010, plate 26). His work customarily includes repetitious decorative motifs including mask-and-scroll corner mounts and urns – a leitmotif Cox probably took from the location of his workshop as published on his trade card, ‘at the Golden Urn, in Shoe Lane Fleet Street’ (C. Le Corbeiller, ‘James Cox and his Curious Toys’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, June 1960, p. 323). It is a pattern that altered little from its inception in the 1750s through to the 1780’s (R. Smith, ‘The Sing-Song Trade: exporting clocks to China in the eighteenth century’, Antiquarian Horology, March 2008, p. 635).
This cabinet was undoubtedly intended for the Eastern market; with its elephants, dragons and javelin-carrying tartars it is in what Cox termed ‘the Asiatick taste’. The decorative motif of ‘Tartar figures arm’d with javelins, pointed at dragons’ was also included on a large automaton exhibited at Cox’s Mechanical Museum at 10-14 Spring Gardens, near Charing Cross, London, as listed in his A descriptive inventory of the several exquisite and magnificent pieces of mechanism and jewellery : comprised in the schedule annexed to an act of Parliament, made in the thirteenth year of the reign of His Majesty, George the Third ; for enabling Mr. James Cox of the city of London, jeweller, to dispose of his museum by way of lottery, 1774, p. 45.
Such cabinets were frequently incorporated into much larger configurations, often over two metres high, – this can be seen on ‘The Westminster Swan Clock’, which comprises a musical and automaton cabinet on a large and elaborate gold rockwork plinth (‘The Property of the Duke of Westminster’, Christie’s, London, 7 June 2007, lot 125) and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, by Cox, supported on a standing elephant. The mounting holes to the underside of the elephants on the current lot would indicate this as a possibility here also.
Comparable examples to the present cabinet include: a virtually identical musical and automaton, from the collection of Boni de Castellane and Anna Gould, Christie’s, Paris, 7 March 2017, lot 89 (€290,500, including premium). The musical movement of the Castellane automata was numbered ‘10’, the present movement is numbered ‘11’; A pair of matching nécessaires with timepieces, one in The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum no.: LOAN:GILBERT.35:1 to 13-2008); its pair, formerly with H. Blairman & Sons Ltd. (illustrated: White, op. cit., p. 168, fig. 7.5b); A cabinet with moon phase display, signed, from the collection of His Majesty Farouk I, King of Egypt and Sudan, until 1952, most recently sold ‘The Exceptional Sale’, Christie’s, London, 4 July 2013, lot 27 (£481,875, including premium). The key from this was dated 1766; and a pair of ‘Commode’ clocks, signed, from the Summer Palace, Beijing, (van Wely, op.cit., pp. 104-7).