Collection

Search our collection

View:

Filter search

Automaton for Health Matters Gallery representing "Health screening and surveillance of normal populations"

1994

Automaton, 'Body Language'

1988

A Quiet Afternoon in the Cloud Cuckoo Valley

1984

Rabbit in cabbage musical automaton

1890

‘Autoperipatetikos’ Walking Doll

1862

Anthropomimetic robotic forearm and hand

1997

Anthropomimetic arm employing air muscles

2001

Biped robot

1987-1997

Automaton monkey

1850

‘Giselle’ dancing automaton by Marenghi

1890-1900

Bird in cage automaton

1900-1910

Jack the Smoking Head, Sales Automaton

1850-1865

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

Copper-gilded clock with painting of a scene of boats moored at the coast and a parade transporting treasures as bystanders look on. Dial has English letters that are flipped/rotated and do not spell anything, though could be imitating Williamson, a well known clockmaker in London during this period. (183247).

European-style Zimingzhong

1700-1799

Bronze gold-plated music box with partridge bird and clock. (So 182850).

European-style Zimingzhong

1700-1799

Copper gold-plated agate clock by James Cox. (So 184138).

Zimingzhong with armillary sphere and original case

1751-1799

Copper-gilded country scene clock. Farmhouse has a revolving waterwheel, flapping and pecking chicks, swimming geese, and a barking dog. (182738).

Zimingzhong with moving countryside scene

1700-1799

Temple clock commissioned by James Cox and made by James Upjohn. (So 182740).

Temple Zimingzhong made by James Upjohn

1700-1799

Copper-plated Crane (symbol of longevity) holding a representation of a lingzhi mushroom (symbol of longevity) from the islands of the immortals. Commissioned by James Cox. Casing likely made in China (So 182887).

Zimingzhong with parts from China and Britain

1700-1799

Automaton made for Health Matters Gallery by Paul Spooner representing "Centralised Hospital-based medicine contrasted with domestic community-centred practice" which preceded it. Hand carved, largely wooden, 1994

Centralised Hospital-based medicine contrasted with Domestic Community-centred Practice

1994

Birch tower clock. (So 183171).

Zimingzhong decorated with Kingfisher feathers

1700-1799

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

Made from zitan (red sandalwood) typical of Chinese furniture. The four corners surrounding the dial are engraved with a roundel of the Chinese character meanting longevity and two kuifeng (legendary bird). The characters are surrounded by a pattern derived from a bat. The pavilion holds the Eight Immortals seated around Shoulao, the God of Longevity. When activated the immortals rotate with the disc to music. So 183184

Clock Mechanisms in Zimingzhong

1700-1799

Copper-gilded foreigner holding sheep which plays eight tunes. The box is adorned with landscape paintings that change as curtains rise and fall to cover them as the music plays. Clock by Robert Ward. (So 182765).

Zimingzhong for an emperor

circa 1770

Copper-gilded round flower pot. (So 182836).

Zimingzhong in the form of a pot of artificial flowers

1700-1799

Horse and tent clock by Stephen Rimbault. Similar to a clock by James Cox suggesting they used the same workshops. The clock has two french prints on the back, perhaps of the funeral of Louis XIV and the coronation of Louis XV at Riems Cathedral by Pierre Dulin. (So 182752).

Zimingzhong with print of the coronation of Louis XIV

circa 1780

Shepherd and sheep clock by Timothy Williamson. Demonstrates an idealised image of rural life. When the clock strikes, music plays and the partridge flaps its wings and starts to sing. (So 182784).

Zimingzhong and British design

1780-1795

Copper-gilded clock with four dials, including a lunar calendar dial, hour, and minute. Rods simulating water rotate at each side and a musician hits the bell in front of him. (So 182771).

Zimingzhong with turbaned figure

1700-1799

Copper gold-plated elephant clock. The elephant's trunk can extend and curl, its eyes roll, and tail sways. The design also features glass rods simulating water. (So 182786).

Elephant Zimingzhong

1700-1799

Nine-tier rising pagoda clock with one three-hand dial and 2 two-hand dials. Clock rises to Chinese folk song, 'Jasmine Flower'. (So 182759).

Moving pagoda Zimingzhong

1700-1799

Copper-gilded embedded enamel clock. Dial and mechanism made by John Marriott, enamel painting by John Howes, casing by Lewis Pantin. (So 182659).

Zimingzhong by three makers

circa 1781

Copper-gilded gardener boy clock by John Marriot that plays six melodies including Handel's 'March' from the opera 'Rinaldo' from 1711. (So 182814).

Musical Zimingzhong

1700-1799

Copper-gilded three-tier elephant clock supported by four lions by James Cox. The clock simulates a waterfall and features hunting scenes and a fight between a snake and a bear. (So 182808).

Gilt-metal Zimingzhong

1700-1799

Automaton entitled 'E.coli Theatre', commissioned for the Health Matters gallery, made by Andy Hazel, 1993

E.coli Theatre

1993

Rosewood clock with inscription translating as 'made during the reign of Qianlong'. Dial is decorated with five bats and character meaning longevity. Lotus petals are engraved on the base. (So 183169).

Zimingzhong with bats

1700-1799

Automaton using fibreoptic endoscope, made for the Health Matters Gallery, Science Museum, by Andy Hazell and Lucy Casson, United Kingdom, 1994

Automaton using fibreoptic endoscope

1994

Napoleonic prisoner of war spinning jenny automaton, made of bone, polychrome, with nine figures, c1800-1815

Spinning Jenny Automaton

1800-1815