James Cox (c. 1723–1800) was a British jeweller, goldsmith and entrepreneur and the proprietor of Cox’s Museum. He is now best known for creating ingenious automata and mechanical clocks, including Cox’s timepiece, powered by atmospheric pressure, the Peacock Clock and the Silver Swan.
Cox’s career as a jeweler began as early as 1751, and his automatons were designed by artists like Joseph Nollekens and Johann Zoffany. In the 1760s John Joseph Merlin became his apprentice. Though he proclaimed himself a goldsmith, he employed a number of jewelers and manufacturers who may have done much of the work; that he was never a member of the goldsmith’s guild further substantiates the claim that he subcontracted his work. Cox specialized in intricate clockwork curios encrusted with gold, silver, and jewels, referred to as “sing-songs.” His primary market was the Far East, especially India and China, and the Chinese Qianlong Emperor possessed one of his automata, in the shape of a chariot. Cox’s popularity was important to British trade: the tea trade ensured that British imports far outweighed their exports to China, and Cox helped redress the imbalance. His sing-songs initially reduced British trade deficit, but in the early 1770s Cox was stuck with a large inventory and a flooded eastern market. He liquidated some of his stock at Christie’s in 1772, and used the remaining inventory to start his museum. Reference: Wikipedia
A GEORGE III GOLD AND AGATE MOUNTED AUTOMATON WATCH; WITH AN ORMOLU AND AGATE MUSICAL AND AUTOMATON CABINET
FROM THE WORKSHOP OF JAMES COX, LONDON, CIRCA 1770, THE WATCH SIGNED AND NUMBERED ‘1391’, THE CABINET’S MUSICAL MOVEMENT NUMBERED ’11’, ADAPTED TO ACCOMMODATE A WATCH
The watch; CASE: the 20k gold, agate, ruby and paste-set pair case with seed pearl frames, makers mark ‘PM’ for Peter Mounier; DIAL: the white enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic outer five minute markers, blued steel hands, with eight automaton stars to the border which rotate when activated; MOVEMENT: with verge escapement and chain fusee, standing barrel for the automata, pierced and chased backcock with diamond endstone, the backplate signed ‘Jam.s. Cox London 1391’
Sold for GBP 443,250 at Christie’s in 2020
JAMES COX, LONDON A GEORGE III FIGURED MAHOGANY ORMOLU MOUNTED BRACKET CLOCK the case with bell top pediment, hinged handle and torche finials above a glazed door with canted ormolu caryatid corners enclosing a 7″ arched brass dial with gilt spandrels and silvered chapter ring surrounding a matted centre with calendar aperture, the arch with sunken cartouche and two subsidiary dials for regulation and Strike/Silent fronting a signed eight-day double fusee movement with rise and fall verge escapement striking the hours on a gong; the backplate mounted with an unusual pivoted pendulum stay 48cm high
Sold for £2,600 at Hutchinson Scott Auctioneers in 2020
A VERY RARE AND UNUSUAL GOLD, ENAMEL, RUBY AND PEARL-SET QUARTER REPEATING VERGE WATCH WITH CONCEALED EROTIC SCENE MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET WITH MATCHING ENAMEL ASSOCIATED CHAIN
CIRCA 1770, NO. 5680
YELLOW GOLD, ENAMEL, RUBY AND PEARL-SET
diameter 40 mm
Sold for 40,000 GBP at Sotheby’s in 2015
