Craft
Design
History
#automata
#birds
#kinetic sculpture
#metal
#metalwork
Within the 250 years since its fabrication within the studio of jeweler and entrepreneur James Cox, the Silver Swan automaton has beguiled viewers. The mechanical sculpture continues to dwell as much as its authentic function, designed as a crowd-puller to the artist’s workshop in 18th-century London, which additionally served as a small museum. Right this moment, it’s an iconic resident of the The Bowes Museum at Barnard Fortress in County Durham, U.Okay.
Cox modeled the life-size creature on a feminine swan, incorporating 2,000 shifting elements, together with 139 crystal rods and 113 neck rings. A slew of delicate items are encased in chased, repoussé silver, operated by three clockwork mechanisms that management a music field, a pool of glass with swimming silver fish, and the complicated actions of the swan’s head and neck. On the 1867 Paris Worldwide Exhibition, its massive scale and hefty price ticket of fifty,000 francs—at this time that will be nicely over $200,000—created a sensation. 5 years later, the museum’s namesake, John Bowes, purchased it in Paris for a tenth of that worth and introduced it residence to the U.Okay.
In a video produced in 2021, a specialist workforce of conservators and curators painstakingly dismantled the sculpture to look at the situation of its mechanisms and create a plan for its preservation. This yr, the swan is present process meticulous repairs and cleansing, and the museum anticipates that the work might be accomplished by the top of the yr.
Cox additionally designed the well-known Peacock Clock for Catherine the Nice, a treasure of the State Hermitage Museum’s assortment in Russia. Study extra in regards to the Silver Swan on The Bowes Museum’s website. (through The Kid Should See This)
#automata
#birds
#kinetic sculpture
#metal
#metalwork
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