An Automaton Clock from the Reign of Qianlong

Similar examples of this imperial automaton clock are in the Forbidden City Museum in Beijing. After being in Tokyo’s Nezu Museum, this one came up for sale at Christie's in Hong Kong in May 2008. Last May, the timepiece made the cover of La Gazette no. 21, but when it was presented at Drouot on June 15, it did not find a buyer. This time, the rare object fetched €571,400. In addition to its beautiful enamels, glass beads and gilded bronzes, it chimes three melodies when the automatons go into action. In the lower part, the tribute-bearers, elephants and horses start moving, while figures go in and out of a European-style house on each side. Guests invited to witness the spectacle must have been amazed. The piece dates from the heyday of the reign of Qianlong (1736-1795), a fervent promoter of the arts who, like his grandfather Kangxi before him, was passionate about clock mechanisms. The Swiss, French and English were masters in this sophisticated field. Some of the many Jesuit missionaries who went to China knew the secrets of clock-making and shared them with their illustrious hosts. In 1732, a "Musical Clocks" office opened and, according to notes by the Jesuits in the 1730s and 1740s, it took a hundred craftsmen to make one clock.