Drawing

A wonderful story involves this drawing by an unknown designer from the workshop of the goldsmith and clock-maker, James Cox (active in London from 1749 to 1791). It shows a bull clock on a table-shaped stand. The bull resembles the one on the Buffalo clock made about 1770 in Cox's workshop although the rock-shaped base is different. The clock is the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. This drawing has been tentatively attributed to Charles Magniac, a craftsman trained as a chaser.

The purpose of the drawing is likely to be a presentation drawing for the client. It combines characteristics of designs for objects intended for production, with features also found in craftsmen's and retailers' record drawings.

继续阅读

Fortunately, this drawing proved to be most useful in locating the table-shaped stand, and supporting sea-horses and sea-bulls for the Buffalo clock at the Palace Museum. Clock and stand were reunited and displayed together in the exhibition 'Treasures from the Forbidden City' at the Museum Speelklok in Utrecht in 2010.