Page 120 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

A typical “singsong” ormolu clock, circa
1780, in the form of an Asian elephant
supporting a canopied howdah enclosing a
figure of Atlas supporting an armillary
sphere, the pagoda surmounted by a foliate
and painted finial supporting a bejewelled
counter-rotating 'Catherine wheel' topped
with a pineapple, the elephant, finely chased,
in two sections, enclosing one movement, its
back draped with a blanket hung with
jewelled pearl fringes, the elephant stands
upon a finely worked rock-work base,
mounted with flowers and rosette form
covers enclose the winding apertures, inset
to the front with an enamel clock dial with
roman numerals and a red and clear jewelled
bezel, the reverse set with another dial for
selecting one of the six tunes (Gavot, Song,
Jigg, Gavot, Minuet and Dance) the
mechanism for which is enclosed in the
lower section which is painted on metal with
landscapes and mounted with ormolu
rockwork, bridges, pavilions, pagodas and
windmills with turning elements and
enclosing glass 'waterfall' rods to all sides,
with trophy panels to the canted angles and
a burnished and leaf-cast plinth with pierced
Chinese fret and anthemia aprons, supported
to the corners by seated Chinese figures.
Such a clock would have sold in Canton in
its day for circa £60,000. This particular clock
was sold at Sotheby’s, London in 2012 for
£1.61million.

The Palace Museum in the Forbidden City
has an enormous museum of singsongs and
clocks that were part of the Imperial
household effects.

A whole variety of other goods were brought into
China either by the Honourable Company or the
Country Trade, goods including cutch [an
astringent medicinal resin from the Indian
Acacia], olibanum [frankincense], myrrh,
elephant ivory, sharks’ fins, coromandel wood,
ebony, sandalwood, coral, amber, mother o’
pearl, tortoiseshell, copper, bêche de mer [sea
cucumber - used smoked or dried in soups],
betel nuts, rattan and peppercorns. Sealskins,
otter skins and furs were brought in from North
America in huge volumes, initially via Britain and
later in the 19th century by American merchants.
This trade was highly profitable, making the
German emigré American John Jacob Astor [born in Waldorf in Germany Johan, Jakob
Astor] $20 million dollars [equivalent to an astonishing $1.3 billion today] by the time he