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Lot Essay
A ‘TRIBUTE’ CLOCK FOR THE CHINESE COURT
Guangzhou became a focal point for trade between China and the West during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722) and established itself as an important clockmaking centre. It was the second most populus city and the largest port. Clocks made in Guangzhou initially copied English and European made export wares and frequently were arranged in the tiered architectural manner of the present clock.
A clock by the London maker Benjamin Ward (active 1770-1811) in the Palace Museum collections (Lu Yangzhen (chief editor), Timepieces Collected by the Qing Emperors in the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 93) may perhaps be seen as a template for these exceptional automaton clocks made by local craftsmen towards the end of the century, mostly with brightly coloured enamels, particularly blue, a proliferation of automatons and musical functions which followed Western styles and interpretation of Chinese architecture and ornament but also incorporating their own ‘improvements’.
Typically these incorporated features such as the naturalistic finial with sprung flowerheads and rotating tiered ‘trees’ which are often found on both Chinese and Western made clocks of this period. More unusual are the paired ‘Catherine-wheels’ and particularly extraordinary are the possibly unique blue enamel rotating cones as one of the principal features. The central automaton is then framed as if a theatre set in the lower tier, this clock illustrates a ‘tribute bearers’ scene with gifts being proffered by figures and carried by elephants and mules. The clock shares a number of features with another formerly in the Nezu collection; (see Christie’s, Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1502), the upper drum with a high relief foliate mount raised on apparently identical naturalistic scroll feet to the underside. Three Guangzhou made clocks, from the Palace Museum collections, show remarkably similar characteristics including framed automaton scenes, the painted interiors of which are decorated with scenes incorporating classical architecture, engraved vase finials, very similar interlaced balustrades, stiff-leaf borders and pierced aprons (see Yangzhen, op. cit. pp. 56, 58 and 65, and exhibited in ‘Zimingzhong, Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City’, Science Museum, London, 1 February to 2 June 2024, loan no’s L2020-11/18 and 28).
These characteristics while inspired by Western technology evolved locally and the often unique features made them highly prized within the Court. Guangzhou clocks fall into two categories; those, such as the present clock, which were made as ‘Tributes’ for the Court and others made for a more local market. Canton was another clockmaking centre and here too clock cases were made copying Western studies of Chinese architecture (Catherine Pagani, Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity, University of Michigan, 2001, pp. 152-170).
CLOCKS FOR THE EMPEROR
The current masterpiece from the zenith of Chinese clock production in the late 18th century was the culmination of over two hundred years of trade in horological masterpieces between China and the West. The pioneering Jesuit missionaries such as Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) and Michele Ruggieri (1543-1607) of the late 16th century embedded themselves in Chinese culture as a means to establish Christianity. (M. Ricci, China in the Sixteenth Century: Journals of Matteo Ricci, 1583-1610, New York, 1953). Through mastering the language, winning favour with Chinese gentry and officials was sought by presenting Western novelties as gifts to arouse interest and gain trust. Clocks and watches formed the most significant part of these gifts and their importance was fundamental in gaining influence with Chinese officials. Ruggieri writing in 1580 to the headquarters of the Society of Jesuits in Rome stated ‘It would be most desirable if your holiness would send some large ornate clocks as gifts. An hour-striking, sonorous clock designed for the palace setting would be needed for the purpose. In addition, I also require one small hour-striking clock that can be hung from a ring and held in the palm , such as the one Cardinal Fulvio Orsini presented to your holiness the year I departed Rome, or anything of the like’. Later in the same year Ruggieri accompanied some Portuguese traders to visit Guangzhou, gaining favour with his gifts; ‘A military official was especially friendly and more than willing to introduce me to the Court. Our acquaintance was built on a clock I gave him when we first met’. Rici gradually established his mission on the mainland and became a highly respected figure amongst Chinese scholars but access to the Emperor himself was the key aim.
In 1600 Ricci presented two clocks to Emperor Wanli (reign 1572-1620) who appointed four eunuchs from the Imperial Board of Astronomy to study horology with Ricci. Emperor Wanli’s fascination with the clocks enabled Ricci to establish more influence within the Chinese Court and he effectively established himself as the unofficial clockmaker to the Imperial palace. This in turn led to a proliferation of Western clocks and watches throughout the Court and with subsequent Emperors.
The trade gained far greater significance during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), who amassed possibly the greatest collection of clocks and watches ever assembled. Initially clocks made for China were destined for the Imperial Court but as trade grew in the latter years of the 18th Century the market expanded to include those outside the court, including officials and members of the Chinese elite, as well as Europeans who purchased them as gifts to gain favour with the Emperor (see Pagani, op. cit. pp. 101-102). George Staunton, secretary and minister plenipotentiary to Lord Macartney's embassy to China in 1793 wrote: 'Extraordinary pieces of ingenious and complicated mechanism...were exported annually to a considerable amount. Many of these costly articles, obtained by the Mandarines, under promise of protection from their inferiors, ultimately found their way into the palaces of the Emperor and his Ministers, in the hope of securing the favour of their superiors' (quoted in Pagani, p. 102). By the time of Macartney's visit in 1793 the number of clocks in the Imperial collection was astonishing. A visit to the palace at Jehol revealed that the forty or fifty palace buildings he visited were 'all furnished...with every kind of European toys and sing-songs; with spheres, orreries, clocks and musical automatons...' (Pagani, p. 83). And Jehol was just one of three Imperial residences; more would have been on display in the Forbidden City and at the Summer Palace.
Guangzhou became a focal point for trade between China and the West during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722) and established itself as an important clockmaking centre. It was the second most populus city and the largest port. Clocks made in Guangzhou initially copied English and European made export wares and frequently were arranged in the tiered architectural manner of the present clock.
A clock by the London maker Benjamin Ward (active 1770-1811) in the Palace Museum collections (Lu Yangzhen (chief editor), Timepieces Collected by the Qing Emperors in the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 93) may perhaps be seen as a template for these exceptional automaton clocks made by local craftsmen towards the end of the century, mostly with brightly coloured enamels, particularly blue, a proliferation of automatons and musical functions which followed Western styles and interpretation of Chinese architecture and ornament but also incorporating their own ‘improvements’.
Typically these incorporated features such as the naturalistic finial with sprung flowerheads and rotating tiered ‘trees’ which are often found on both Chinese and Western made clocks of this period. More unusual are the paired ‘Catherine-wheels’ and particularly extraordinary are the possibly unique blue enamel rotating cones as one of the principal features. The central automaton is then framed as if a theatre set in the lower tier, this clock illustrates a ‘tribute bearers’ scene with gifts being proffered by figures and carried by elephants and mules. The clock shares a number of features with another formerly in the Nezu collection; (see Christie’s, Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1502), the upper drum with a high relief foliate mount raised on apparently identical naturalistic scroll feet to the underside. Three Guangzhou made clocks, from the Palace Museum collections, show remarkably similar characteristics including framed automaton scenes, the painted interiors of which are decorated with scenes incorporating classical architecture, engraved vase finials, very similar interlaced balustrades, stiff-leaf borders and pierced aprons (see Yangzhen, op. cit. pp. 56, 58 and 65, and exhibited in ‘Zimingzhong, Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City’, Science Museum, London, 1 February to 2 June 2024, loan no’s L2020-11/18 and 28).
These characteristics while inspired by Western technology evolved locally and the often unique features made them highly prized within the Court. Guangzhou clocks fall into two categories; those, such as the present clock, which were made as ‘Tributes’ for the Court and others made for a more local market. Canton was another clockmaking centre and here too clock cases were made copying Western studies of Chinese architecture (Catherine Pagani, Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity, University of Michigan, 2001, pp. 152-170).
CLOCKS FOR THE EMPEROR
The current masterpiece from the zenith of Chinese clock production in the late 18th century was the culmination of over two hundred years of trade in horological masterpieces between China and the West. The pioneering Jesuit missionaries such as Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) and Michele Ruggieri (1543-1607) of the late 16th century embedded themselves in Chinese culture as a means to establish Christianity. (M. Ricci, China in the Sixteenth Century: Journals of Matteo Ricci, 1583-1610, New York, 1953). Through mastering the language, winning favour with Chinese gentry and officials was sought by presenting Western novelties as gifts to arouse interest and gain trust. Clocks and watches formed the most significant part of these gifts and their importance was fundamental in gaining influence with Chinese officials. Ruggieri writing in 1580 to the headquarters of the Society of Jesuits in Rome stated ‘It would be most desirable if your holiness would send some large ornate clocks as gifts. An hour-striking, sonorous clock designed for the palace setting would be needed for the purpose. In addition, I also require one small hour-striking clock that can be hung from a ring and held in the palm , such as the one Cardinal Fulvio Orsini presented to your holiness the year I departed Rome, or anything of the like’. Later in the same year Ruggieri accompanied some Portuguese traders to visit Guangzhou, gaining favour with his gifts; ‘A military official was especially friendly and more than willing to introduce me to the Court. Our acquaintance was built on a clock I gave him when we first met’. Rici gradually established his mission on the mainland and became a highly respected figure amongst Chinese scholars but access to the Emperor himself was the key aim.
In 1600 Ricci presented two clocks to Emperor Wanli (reign 1572-1620) who appointed four eunuchs from the Imperial Board of Astronomy to study horology with Ricci. Emperor Wanli’s fascination with the clocks enabled Ricci to establish more influence within the Chinese Court and he effectively established himself as the unofficial clockmaker to the Imperial palace. This in turn led to a proliferation of Western clocks and watches throughout the Court and with subsequent Emperors.
The trade gained far greater significance during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), who amassed possibly the greatest collection of clocks and watches ever assembled. Initially clocks made for China were destined for the Imperial Court but as trade grew in the latter years of the 18th Century the market expanded to include those outside the court, including officials and members of the Chinese elite, as well as Europeans who purchased them as gifts to gain favour with the Emperor (see Pagani, op. cit. pp. 101-102). George Staunton, secretary and minister plenipotentiary to Lord Macartney's embassy to China in 1793 wrote: 'Extraordinary pieces of ingenious and complicated mechanism...were exported annually to a considerable amount. Many of these costly articles, obtained by the Mandarines, under promise of protection from their inferiors, ultimately found their way into the palaces of the Emperor and his Ministers, in the hope of securing the favour of their superiors' (quoted in Pagani, p. 102). By the time of Macartney's visit in 1793 the number of clocks in the Imperial collection was astonishing. A visit to the palace at Jehol revealed that the forty or fifty palace buildings he visited were 'all furnished...with every kind of European toys and sing-songs; with spheres, orreries, clocks and musical automatons...' (Pagani, p. 83). And Jehol was just one of three Imperial residences; more would have been on display in the Forbidden City and at the Summer Palace.