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Miniature secretary incorporating a watch

Entrepreneur James Cox British
ca. 1766–72
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 512
Bejeweled butterflies and flowers that tremble in the slightest breath of air adorn this whimsical object, which plays tunes on a hidden music box and incidentally tells the time. The spring mechanism that powers the music is wound by inserting a key into a hole hidden behind one of the rosettes near the bulls that support the cabinet. The movement has a verge escapement, and the gilded back plate with its wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels is visible through a glass fitted to the back of the case.

Based on actual European Rococo cabinet designs, but with some improbable additions, the miniature is known to have been in the collection of Princess Z. M. Youssoupof in Saint Petersburg in 1904, and although it has been said to have been taken from China after the Boxer Rebellion in 1899, it may, in fact, have been imported into Russia long before.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Miniature secretary incorporating a watch
  • Entrepreneur: James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800)
  • Date: ca. 1766–72
  • Culture: British, London
  • Medium: Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels
  • Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 12 1/8 × 5 3/4 × 4 1/8 in. (30.8 × 14.6 × 10.5 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Gold and Platinum
  • Credit Line: Gift of Admiral F. R. Harris, in memory of his wife, Dena Sperry Harris, 1946
  • Object Number: 46.184a–c
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Pair-case automaton watch, James Cox British, Outer case: gold, partly enameled and set with gemstones and paste jewels; Inner case: gold; Dial: white enamel, with frame set with paste jewels; Movement: with diamond endstone, British, London
Pair-case automaton watch
James Cox
Peter Mounier
ca. 1770
Nécessaire, James Cox British, Case: moss agate, mounted in gold and set with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds; silver; Dial: white enamel, with frame pavé-set with paste jewels, British, London
Nécessaire
James Cox
ca. 1770–72
Automaton in the form of a chariot pushed by a Chinese attendant and set with a clock, James Cox British, Case: gold with diamonds and paste jewels set in silver, pearls; Dial: white enamel; Movement: partly gilded brass and steel, wheel balance and cock of silver set with paste jewels, British, London
Automaton in the form of a chariot pushed by a Chinese attendant and set with a clock
James Cox
1766
Jewel cabinet with watch, James Cox British, Case: agate, mounted in gilded copper and gilded brass and set with painted enamel on copper plaques, and fruitwood; Dial: white enamel, British, London
Jewel cabinet with watch
Multiple artists/makers
probably ca. 1765–70
Traveling clock watch with alarm, Thomas Tompion British, Case and dial: silver; Movement: gilded brass, partly blued steel, silver, British, London
Traveling clock watch with alarm
Thomas Tompion
Nathanial Delander I
ca. 1680

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