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拍品專文
Previously sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28 October 1992, lot 267.
The present example belongs to a group of clocks from Guangzhou Province ordered by one of the Guangdong officials and rendered as tribute to the Emperor Qianlong. For a discussion cf. Yang Boda, Tribute from Guangdong to the Qing Court, pp. 63-64, where it was mentioned that the Qing emperors had "lived and worked under the chimes of their clocks".
The Chinese clockmakers initially learned their skills and techniques from the British, at first by copying clocks that were imported into Guangzhou from Europe and then diversified in their own decorative styles which were highly ornate. Reputed to have been precise and accurate, clocks assembled in Guangzhou, often with imported movements, came in a variety of combined Western and Oriental ornamental decorative forms comparable to the present example. Compare with related musical automaton clocks also inset with coloured paste and fanciful cabriole stands, sold in these Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 7 July 2003 (Catalogue dated 28 April 2003), lots 588 and 589.
The present example belongs to a group of clocks from Guangzhou Province ordered by one of the Guangdong officials and rendered as tribute to the Emperor Qianlong. For a discussion cf. Yang Boda, Tribute from Guangdong to the Qing Court, pp. 63-64, where it was mentioned that the Qing emperors had "lived and worked under the chimes of their clocks".
The Chinese clockmakers initially learned their skills and techniques from the British, at first by copying clocks that were imported into Guangzhou from Europe and then diversified in their own decorative styles which were highly ornate. Reputed to have been precise and accurate, clocks assembled in Guangzhou, often with imported movements, came in a variety of combined Western and Oriental ornamental decorative forms comparable to the present example. Compare with related musical automaton clocks also inset with coloured paste and fanciful cabriole stands, sold in these Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 7 July 2003 (Catalogue dated 28 April 2003), lots 588 and 589.