Lot Essay
This George III ormolu timepiece table cabinet, in the manner of the London jeweller, gold/silversmith and automata supplier, the pre-eminent and entrepreneurial James Cox (c. 1723-1800) of 103 Shoe Lane, London, is possibly the pair to one sold Sotheby’s, New York, 18 October 2006, lot 355 ($66,000 inc. premium); the eagle heads face each other, and the watch dials appear similar although no watch maker was recorded in 2006. The opening doors to the sides and back of the present piece originally contained erotic panels, but have now been replaced with more modern etched panels. The present timepiece table cabinet rests on four exotic elephant feet – a model Cox termed ‘the Asiatick taste’ - zoomorphic figures that are very close to those customarily used by Cox. Two models of elephants reoccur, one with an upward trunk, as on this example, and on two further examples; a Cox timepiece table cabinet in the Gilbert Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (I. White, English Clocks for the Eastern Markets, Ticehurst, 2012, p. 168, fig. 7.5a) and a musical automaton clock illustrated R. Smith, ‘James Cox (c. 1723-1800: A Revised Biography’, The Burlington Magazine, June, 2000, p. 356, fig. 19). The other model of elephant has a downward trunk, such as the one sold ‘Classic Art Evening Sale: Antiquity to 20th Century’, Christie’s, London, 29 July 2020, lot 53 (£443,250 inc. premium). A timepiece of this model was offered at Bonhams, London, 18 November 2008, lot 14.