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Early stag horn implement

6000 BCE
The upper section is comprised of a gourd-shaped blue enamel vase decorated with gold 'longevity' (shou) characters written in six kinds of script. The lower part of the gourd is decroated with two characters reading 'great fortune' (daji). When activated, music plays, the waterfalls revolve, and the ducks swim. The fisherman waves his fishing rod, the woodcutter repeatedly throws a bundle of firewood over his shoulder and the farmer goes in and out of a cave. In the pavilion the scholar waves his fan and he doors on the vase open to reveal a figure revolving inside. This clock is powered by a series of springs, fuses, and chains that work in tandem to control all movement. The complexity of the clock's design clearly indicates that workshops in Guangzhou during the Qianlong period were sophisticated enough to rival those in the Forbidden City. (So 182710).

Zimingzhong with rich decoration

1700-1799
Copper gold-plated enamel lotus flower cylinder clock. The movement was made in Guangzhou. The manufacturer’s name is engraved at the back panel of the movement, both in Chinese and in English ‘Cheong Simg Canton’. The musical device was produced in Europe in the 1800s, providing melody to complement the performance. (So 183083).

Zimingzhong with British and Chinese mechanisms

1800-1899
Copper-gilded enamel building inverted ball roller curtain clock. (So 182713).

Musical Mechanisms in Zimingzhong

1700-1799
Human skull, frontal section, with a brass brace securing front two false incisors and attached to extant canines and a molar, provenance unknown. Europe, 1840-1900

Human skull

1840-1900
Bone scoop, Roman. The scoop has a straight stem, which is circular in cross-section, tapering to a scooped end; and a baluster-shaped finial at the other end. The baluster-shaped finial is circumvented by a ‘manu fica’, or ‘fig-shaped’ hand.

Bone scoop, with a ‘fig-shaped’ hand at one end

50-500
Copper gold-plated enamel gourd type clock. Their gourd shape, the two-spotted deer, and the lignzhi fungus all symbolise longevity. The figure t the centre of the base holds a banner wishing for happiness and prosperity. (So 183128).

Blue Enamel Zimingzhong

1700-1799