Page 92 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Eternal Music in Chinese art

This casket is related to a number of gilt-metal nécessaires, caskets The Qing court called this type of casket guiju he, literally meaning
and timepieces which share the characteristics of an upright bombe rectangular box. The Imperial Workshop Archive suggests that
shape, rococo decoration and agate panels made by the English master stone inlaid western caskets had been introduced to the court
clockmaker James Cox. Nécessaires and caskets, often containing as early as the Yongzheng period, see M.Zhou, Yongzheng jiaju
musical movements and watches, were favourite articles for export from sanshinian: Yongzhengchao jiaju yu xiangshi dangan jilu (Selected
Europe to China during the second half of the eighteenth century. Archive of Furniture and Incense Practice during the Thirteen Years
of Yongzheng’s Reign), Beijing, 2013, vol.II, p.455. The admiration
James Cox (1723-1800) was a London jeweller and clockmaker who of the Qing court and the Qianlong emperor for English timepieces,
began a revolution in the concept of luxury clocks and objet d’art in nécessaires and caskets, can also be learned from a report in 27-
their design and embellishment and sold them to China, India, Russia 29 August 1772 in the St James Chronicle reporting that a ship
as well as in London. Cox’s automaton clocks are arguably the most which arrived in China with a very large collection that was originally
elaborate ever produced in England; for a comprehensive discussion designed for James Cox’s museum, struck the Chinese with so much
of James Cox, see I.White, English Clocks for the Eastern Markets: astonishment that the whole cargo was purchased by the emperor;
English Clockmakers Trading in China & the Ottoman Empire 1580- see I.White, ibid., p.102. Whether this English newspaper entry was
1815, Ticehurst, 2012, pp.94-207. The importance of his clocks in accurate or not is questionable. However, importantly, it provides us
the diplomatic and trade efforts is demonstrated in a commission with contemporary evidence for the emperor’s admiration for such
in 1766, by the English East India Company for two ‘chariot clocks’ works of art.
for China - these clocks would have been intended as gifts to the
Qianlong emperor. In 1769 he requested permission from the East Compare with a related casket inlaid with a clock, 18th century, Britain,
India Company to send three pairs of musical clocks to China; in 1795 in the Palace Museum, Beijing, which is illustrated in Timepieces in the
the Dutch embassy to China included in its presents to the emperor Imperial Palace, Beijing, 2008, pl.138. For additional related examples
two automaton clocks bought in Canton, which were made in part by attributed to James Cox, see I.White, English Clocks for the Eastern
James Cox. These examples demonstrate his importance and it is not Markets: English Clockmakers Trading in China & the Ottoman Empire
a coincidence that amongst the surviving examples made by James 1580-1815, Ticehurst, 2012, p.168, fig.7.5; p.173, fig.7.11; and
Cox, a significant number are in the Qing Court Collection in the Palace p.174, fig.7.13.
Museum, Beijing; see I.White, ibid., pp.100, 101, 120.
Compare also with a related ormolu silver and agate musical timepiece
table clock, by James Cox, circa 1766, which was sold at Bonhams
London, 12 December 2012, lot 18, and was later sold at Christie’s
London, 4 July 2013, lot 27. See another related moss agate and
stone-set gilt-metal musical casket in the manner of James Cox, which
was sold at Bonhams London, 12 December 2012, lot 19.

盒平頂，銅鎏金圍框，鏨刻卷草文， 蓋緣内束，以銅鎏金四瓣鏤空花 清代皇室以及乾隆皇帝對英國鐘錶的喜愛在文獻中有跡可循，《聖詹
紋為框，内嵌瑪瑙片，盒身略微外鼓，四角包鎏金天使柱，四面以銅 姆斯紀事報》（St James Chronicle）在1772年8月27-29日報道一搜
鎏金卷草花紋圍框，瑪瑙為壁，正背兩面正中飾銅鎏金羊首，魯特琴 滿載原為James Cox博物館製作的時鐘抵達中國的時候，震驚了中國
等樂器，銅鎏金盒底，四面托以人面卷葉紋，四足作寶象形，蓋頂、 人的眼球，整艘貨物被皇帝買下，事見前書，頁102。不論此條報道
盒身兩側接莨苕形活手。 真實與否，但是可以一窺當時皇帝對歐洲時鐘的喜愛。

此盒乃十七世紀流行的洛可可風格的寶盒，清宮稱為規矩盒，清宮造 可比較數件傳為James Cox製作的時鐘，見前書，頁168，圖7.5；頁
辦處清檔記載有雍正九年修理「銀邊鑲溫都里那石盛規矩盒一件」， 173， 圖7.11；以及頁174，圖7.13。北京故宮藏一件銅鍍金嵌瑪瑙
見周默編，《雍正家具十三年 雍正朝家具與香事檔案輯錄》，北 玻璃規矩盒錶，十八世紀英國製，見《故宮鐘錶》，北京，2008年，
京，2013年，卷下，頁445。規矩盒除了承物，多有裝飾音樂發條 圖版138；邦瀚斯曾售出一件James Cox於1766年製嵌瑪瑙鐘，其四
和鐘面，組成音樂時計，且以十八世紀60年代及70年代倫敦James 足與本品類似，2012年12月2日，拍品編號18，後又由佳士得倫敦出
Cox（1723-1800）所製為箇中翹楚，產品行銷中國、印度、俄羅 售，2013年7月4日，拍品編號27。以一件倫敦邦瀚斯售出之James
斯。JC所製自動鐘錶可謂英格蘭當時之最精絕者，關於JC的更多討 Cox風格銅鎏金嵌瑪瑙規矩盒，2012年12月12日，拍品編號19。
論參見I.White著，《English Clocks for the Eastern Markets: English
Clockmakers Trading in China & the Ottoman Empire 1580-1815》
（東方市場的英國鐘錶：中國及奧斯曼帝國的英國鐘錶貿易），泰斯
赫斯特，2012年，頁94-207。1766年東印度公司委託JC製作了兩件
馬車座鐘，或許作為了使團進貢乾隆之物，可見JC鐘錶之重。1769
年，JC通過東印度公司將三隊音樂鐘送至中國；1795年，荷蘭師團進
貢中國皇帝兩件自動計時鐘，雖然購於廣東，但是部分零件確實來自
于JC。由此可見JC鐘在當時珍重的程度，北京故宮至今存有相當數量
的JC作品，見前書，頁100、101、120。

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