Automaton Table Clocks. Below are some examples of automaton table clocks including a Henry Borrell “Sailing Ships” clock and a George III musical clock by John Mottram
HENRY BORRELL, LONDON. A MAGNIFICENT AND LARGE CHASED AND ENGRAVED ORMOLU QUARTER STRIKING MUSICAL CLOCK WITH AUTOMATA ‘SAILING SHIPS’, MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET, CIRCA 1795
Movement: Large three train chain fusee movement striking on bells, rack striking on a nest of eight bells playing two musical tunes, playing on the hour or at will through a button on the side of the case, highly decorative engraved floral and scroll back-plate, when the music is activated the engraved panel raises to reveal an automaton scene of painted ships and galleons on a realistically portrayed sea, the sea replicated by twisted glass rods turning within the automaton.
Sold for HK$ 3,875,625 (US$ 493,775) inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2019
French table clock. Charles X, ca.1830.
With automaton (fountain).
Mercury gilt and blued bronze case.
Paris machine, eight days winding, with pendulum.
Measures: 36,5 x 22 x 12,5 cm.
Singular French clock with automaton, of epoch and Charles X style, inscribing itself in the classicism typical of the epoch. It combines mercury-gilt bronze with blued bronze. The design alternates emphatic volumes and geometric forms with scenes and reproductions of organic and mythological inspiration. Thus, on semicircular feet, rises the base with a bas-relief depicting Dionysus with thyrsus, accompanied by a maenad. In the centre, from a fountain in the form of a lion’s mask, ‘water’ flows from the glass (the automaton mechanism imitates the falling of the liquid). The water falls into a vase flanked by plant shoots. At the top, the dial, surrounded by a floral wreath, is decorated with Roman numerals.
Sold for €2,500 at Setdart Auction House in 2022
John Mottram: A George III gilt-brass paste-set musical automaton table clock for the Chinese market London, circa 1790
3¾-inch enamel dial with centre seconds, the three train chain fusee movement with verge escapement, striking the hours and ting-tang quarters on two bells and playing one of four tunes on a carillon of ten bells with eighteen hammers every three hours, the surmount automaton powered by the musical train and comprising seven paste-set rosettes spinning around a central pink and white rosette, a further rosette above also rotates along with the red and white finial, the case with domed top and urn finials above pierced scroll corners, paste-set front, moulded serpentine base and splayed feet, the whole finely engraved with foliage and swags with circle and dot borders
53.5cm 21in high
Sold for 277,200 GBP at Sotheby’s in 2021
