This dressing table casket is particularly unusual in that it is fitted with a pocket watch that can be either placed in the frame at the top of the casket to make a clock or removed and used as a pocket watch. The ormolu case is finely chased and engraved and set with moss-agate so typical of English pieces made for the Chinese market, the enamel panels are particularly beautiful and well executed and can be attributed to William Hopkins Craft, one of the finest English artists decorating enamel in the 18th Century. Although the box is unsigned it is very similar to those made in the workshops of the celebrated James Cox. During the reign of Ch?ien Lung ?clocks and mechanical toys of beauty and ingenuity never before seen, flowed into China from the West at the rate of some thousands a year. In the Imperial Palaces at Peking, Yuan Ming Yuan, and Jehol the passages of the hours was marked by a fluttering of enameled wings, a gushing of glass fountains and a spinning of paste stars, while from a thousand concealed and whirring orchestras, the gavottes and minuets of London rose strangely into the Chinese air?. The taste for these ?sing-songs?, as these complicated clocks were called, continued into the 19th century, records indicating that value of these imported into China varied between £100 and £200 thousand pounds until 1815. Unfortunately, many have now disappeared through neglect or during the various periods of unrest, in particular in 1860 and 1900, at the time of the Boxer rebellion and subsequent looting of Peking. The wars and revolutions of the 20th century similarly took their toll on the collection, the remains of which are now in the Palace Museum Beijing.
James Cox (circa 1723 - 1800).
Born in London around 1723, he became Free in 1745, at which time he was described as a goldsmith. Cox also called himself a "jeweller". In December 1745, he married Elizabeth Liron. In June of that same year he had set up shop in Racquet Court, where he remained until 1756. An elaborate trade card has survived from this period; with a text in English, French, and German, it offers a "Great Variety of Curious Work in Gold, Silver, and other Metalls: also in Amber, Pearl, Tortoiseshell and Curious Stones". In 1756 Cox entered into a partnership with Edward Grace and moved to Shoe Lane. Cox & Grace declared bankruptcy in November 1758. The list of their stock, which was advertised for sale in 1760, was said to comprise "things in the jeweling and toy business suitable both for foreign and home trade". The Cox & Grace bankruptcy did not stop Cox from advancing; he retained the premises in Shoe Lane and continued working. In July 1763, his bankruptcy proceedings terminated with his discharge. During the 1760s and early 1770s Cox became famous for elaborate and luxurious musical and automaton clocks and watches, destined for the Ottoman, Indian and Chinese empires, and especially for the court of the Chinese Emperor himself. A "notice of two curious Clocks" appeared in the Gentleman?s Magazine of December 1766. During this period, and until 1773, Cox's chief "mechanic" was a brillant Belgian, John Joseph Merlin (1735-1803), who is considered to have been Cox?s "right-hand man". Pieces signed by Cox which can be securely dated to before 1773, may been designed or even made by Merlin. Later, many clock, watch,and singing bird movements were made for Cox by the Jaquet Droz firm. Cox held two sales of items from his stock at Christie's, in July and December 1772. In addition, early that same year he had opened his mechanical museum in the Great Room at Spring Gardens. For the three years of its existence, "Cox?s Museum" - with its astonishingly high entrance fee of half a guinea - was the talk of London. The firm of Cox & Son vacated a portion of the Shoe Lane premises in 1794 and gave up their main shop in 1797. James Cox died in Watford in early 1800 and was buried in the family vault in London's Bunhill Fields on February 26 of that year. We are indebted to Roger Smith for information contained in his article "James Cox (c.1723-1800): a revised biography", Burlington Magazine, June 2000. Also see Clare Le Corbeiller, James Cox: A biographical Review, Burlington Magazine, June 1970, v. 112 (May-Aug. 1970), p. 351-358.
James Street Recorded working in London in 1766.
Dendritic agate more comonly known as "moss agate" is chalcedony containing visible impurities in the form of dendrite shapes that resemble moss. Pieces with a good "moss" formation are highly regarded. Literature: ?The Palace Museum Peiping, A catalogue of various clocks, watches, automata and other miscellaneous objects?, Simon Harcourt- Smith, 1933.