Automaton in the Form of a Triumphal Chariot Drawn by Four Horses

A spring-driven device above the right front wheel activates that wheel and two shafts beneath the horses, propelling the chariot forward and causing each pair of horses to bob back and forth. As the shafts are jointed, the chariot can be steered by turning the lead horses to the right or left.

Automata of this type are in character with those made by James Cox, and, while the workmanship of this piece is from a different hand, its accomplished style is quite compatible with that of Cox's automaton of 1766 (see 1982.60.137). A variant model of this automaton was formerly in the Foy collection (sold at Parke-Bernet, New York, May 22–23, 1959, lot 645) and included, in place of the military trophy resting on the seat of the chariot, a watch signed by the London watchmaker James Upjohn (working 1760–ca. 1779). Two somewhat similar carriage automata—one driven by horses, the other pulled by flying doves—are at Waddesdon Manor; the latter is surmounted by a watch signed by the unrecorded watchmaker William Crouch. The designers and casters of the gilt-bronze elements of these pieces are so far almost entirely anonymous, and it is possible only to note the existence of differences in the styles and degrees of refinement in their production.