An ormolu-mounted table clock with automaton figure, Guangzhou, Qing dynasty, early 19th century | 廣州 清十九世紀初 鍍金銅鐘

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The fascination with mechanical clocks in China began in the late 16th and early 17th century, when the first clocks from Europe came to China. The arrival of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) at the court of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1573-1620) began a long-lasting cooperation between Jesuits, who hoped their scientific knowledge would help to propagate their faith, and Chinese craftsmen. On his arrival in Beijing in 1601, Ricci presented two striking clocks to the Emperor, who later assigned him the task of teaching four eunuchs theory and practice of mechanical clockwork. As the eunuchs were deemed unable to maintain and repair the growing collection of clocks in Beijing, Jesuits were employed instead. The Imperial collection of European and Chinese clocks was vastly expanded under the direction of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662-1722), who created an office of ‘self-ringing bells’ (zimingzhongchu) in the Duanningdian (Hall of Solemnity), which later became the Imperial clock-making workshop, zaozhongchu. The collection was further enriched by the Qianlong Emperor, and it is said that during his reign ‘in every hall, on every wall and on every table there was a clock’ (Tributes from Guangdong to the Qing Court, Art Museum, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 55).

The Qianlong Emperor’s fondness for sophisticated timepieces encouraged the emergence of regional centres for the manufacture of clocks in the European style, of which Guangzhou was the most important. Cognisant of the Emperor’s passion for these objects, ministers and high officials employed craftsmen from Guangzhou to produce impressive clocks that they could send as tribute gifts to Beijing. Guangzhou was the main point of contact for foreign trade and was also the first landing place for many Jesuit missionaries, thus Guangzhou craftsmen were exposed first-hand to foreign objects and technology. The first clocks produced by Guangzhou craftsmen were directly inspired by European prototypes, and often were fitted with European mechanical movements (Catherine Pagani, “Clockmaking in China under the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors”, Arts Asiatiques, vol. 50, 1995, p. 80). For the prototype of this clock, see two English examples sold in these rooms, the first by John Marriot, London, circa 1785, 25th April 2007, lot 76, and the other by Francis Perigal, London, circa 1785, 6th July 2011, lot 74.