작품 상세

A magnificent and important Chinese ormolu, enamel and paste-set striking, musical and automaton clock Qing Dynasty, Late 19th Century with earlier parts   Dial: paste gem-set bezel, white enamel dial with Roman and Arabic indexes Movement: English, late 18th Century and stamped for A & I THWAITES, numbered 534 with rectangular plates, the back plate with Chinese engraved border, twin chain and fusée verge escapement, and an hour strikes on a bell, musical automaton movement probably Chinese, late 18th Century, playing a selection of six tunes changed by a paste-set knob to the right side, on a barrel with eight bells and ten hammers Case: the base raised on an acanthus cast plinth moulding above elaborately cast foliate feet, the panels with blue enamels, gilt, green and red enamels forming a floral-display, the front with a glazed automaton scene within a paste-set border, the glass panel reverse-painted at the edges and also framed below by a cut out painted metal scene, depicting foliage and animals, with central mirror-backed automaton waterfall feature, the sides with florally-decorated blue enamel panels, the rear applied with stylised acorn and flowerhead mounts beside a painted metal panel depicting European figures in a landscape beside the sea, with paper inventory label 12. The middle with openwork gallery featuring two elongated knop finials to each angle, with leaf-wrapped baluster vases to all four corners, each topped by a paste-set automaton whirligig, the clock above an automaton feature with four circular apertures and behind them four sets of automaton characters, reading auspicious phrases, the upper side panels glazed over painted metal panels depicting stylised European figures in harbour landscapes, with small urn finials to all angle and with plain glass door to the rear; The top bordered by an openwork gallery and the four corners with vases and paste-set whirligigs, the back with a silk-backed panel of pierced ormolu leaves and flowerheads, the front with a mirror-backed two-tiered paste set automaton catherine-wheel, with an urn mounted above topped by paste-set automaton flowerheads Automata: hourly, or at will by turning a paste-set knob to the left side base panel, the whirligigs all turn and the medallions at the front of the case revolve to reveal a line of four different auspicious phrases, the catherine-wheel spins and at the top the mount turns whilst the flowerheads also revolve, all while music plays Size: 90 cm high x 41 cm wide x 31 cm deep

재료

Enamel