Cox, James (workshop) - The Silver Swan (1773) - automaton - postcard

Art Postcard
• Work of art title: The Silver Swan
• Artist (if known): the workshop of James Cox
• Media or other details:  Silver automaton
• Publisher / Gallery: The Bowes Museum
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp & postmark details (if relevant):
• Size: modern
• Notes & condition details:

NOTES:

Size: 'Modern' is usually around 6in x 4in / 'Old Standard' is usually around 5 1/2in x 3 1/2in. Larger sizes mentioned, but if you need to know the exact size please ask.

All postcards are not totally new and are pre-owned. It's inevitable that older cards may show signs of ageing and use, particularly sent through the post. Any faults other than normal ageing are noted.

Stock No.: A488

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No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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James Cox (1723–1800) was a British jeweller, goldsmith and entrepreneur^[1] doing business at the Golden Urn, in Racquet Court, Fleet Street, London.^[2] who is now best known for creating ingenious automata and mechanical clocks, including Cox's timepiece, powered by atmospheric pressure, and the Peacock Clock,^[3] now in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Cox stated on his trade card that he was a goldsmith who ""Makes Great Variety of Curious Wares in Gold, Silver and other METALS. Also, Amber, Pearl, Tortoiseshell and Curious Stones.""^[4]

For a time in the 1770s Cox managed a private museum in London, in which capacity he managed to purchase Oliver Cromwell's head as a curiosity. In 1773, in conjunction with John Joseph Merlin (1735-1803), Cox built the Silver Swan automaton now exhibited at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham.^[5] In 1778 Cox went bankrupt for the second time.^[6]

Cox despatched his son John Henry to Canton, China in 1782 to sell off an accumulated stock of mechanical toys ^[7] known as “singsongs”, which were popular with the Chinese. In Canton, both James and John Henry became partners with Daniel Beale and his brother Thomas in the firm of Cox & Beale.

The Silver Swan is an automaton dating from the 18th Century and is housed in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, England. It was acquired by John Bowes, the museum's founder from a Parisian jeweler in 1872.^[1]

The swan, which is life size, is a clockwork driven device that includes a music box. The swan sits in a ""stream"" that is made of glass rods and is surrounded by silver leaves. Small silver fish can be seen ""swimming"" in the stream.^[2]

When the clockwork is wound the music box plays and the glass rods rotate giving the illusion of flowing water. The swan turns its head from side to side and also preens itself. After a few moments the swan notices the swimming fish and bends down to catch and eat one. The swan's head then returns to the upright position and the performance, which has lasted about 40 seconds, is over. To help preserve the mechanism the swan is only operated once each day at 2pm.^[2]

The mechanism was designed and built by John Joseph Merlin (1735-1803) in conjunction with the London inventor James Cox (1723–1800) in 1773.^[1]

The swan was described in a 1773 United Kingdom Act of Parliament as being 3 feet (0.91 m) in diameter and 18 feet (5.49 m) high. This would seem to indicate that at one time there was more to the swan than remains today as it is no longer that high. It is said that there was originally a waterfall behind the swan, which was stolen while it was on tour- this could possibly explain the height which is now 'missing'.^[2]

It is known that the swan was sold several times and was shown at the World's Fair (Exposition Universelle (1867) held in Paris, France. The American novelist Mark Twain observed the swan and recorded his observation in a chapter of the Innocents Abroad,^[2] writing that the swan ""had a living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes.^[1]""

The Bowes Museum believes that the Swan is their best known artifact, and it the basis of the museum's logo.^[2]

type=printed postcards

theme=artists signed

sub-theme=art

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted