A Descriptive Inventory of the Several Exquisite and Magnificent Pieces of Mechanism and Jewellery, Comprised in the Schedule annexed to an Act of Parliament, made in the Thirteenth Year of His present Majesty, George the Third; For enabling Mr. James Cox, of the City of London, Jeweller, to dispose of his Museum by way of Lottery. -
James Cox
1773 - for Mr. Cox, Printed by H. Hart - First Edition
A ban on Cox's shipment to China of luxury goods, led to the establishment in 1772 of the short-lived Spring Gardens Museum in London. A year later, Cox planned to dispose of the museum's contents by lottery, and in anticipation of the sale Cod published this 46 page pamphlet.
The Metropolitan Museum's miniature secretary incorporating a watch (46.184a–c) is perhaps a surviving fragment of a larger work described in the 1773 Descriptive Inventory as ‘Piece, the Seventeenth: A superb Cabinet’. If so, the Museum's miniature has lost the revolving sphere on its top described in the inventory, and it has been parted from a stand consisting of a ‘gilt rock, in front of which is a cascade and running stream of artificial water, where swans are seen swimming in contrary directions; at the corners of the rocks are Dragons with extended wings.’ This extravagant assemblage was in turn displayed on a crimson velvet pedestal with a silver-mounted glass cover to keep out the dust. The inventory goes on to describe the eighteenth object as a duplicate of the seventeenth. A comparable miniature cabinet exists in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, as well as at least one other, more elaborately decorated, example in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. It is possible, therefore, to suggest that, like the nearly identical jewelled automaton in the Cox watch (1977.436.4) and nécessaire (57.128a–o), these delightful secretaries may have belonged to a series of items that were sold separately or inserted into a larger assemblage. Reference: Heilbrunn, James Cox: Goldsmith and Entrepreneur, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Charles E Benham, A Perpetual Clock - the Ingenuity of James Cox, scientific American supplement, New York, number 1751, Vol. 68, 2 October 1909. Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cox%27s_timepiece.
pp. [2] iii-x, 11-46 [2]. Pagination includes outer wrappers, as issued as a pamphlet. Loose in later marbled card wrapper.
Lacking the single sheet fold out advertisement to the front , printed on one side showing a vignette of a pair of 44 ct. diamond drop earrings made to accompany a bust of the Empress of Russia, a description of these earrings and details of the lottery to win them. And lacking the fold out single sheet with engraving of ‘Mr. Cox’s Perpetual Motion, A Prize in the Museum Lottery’ the verso titled ‘The Perpetual Motion’ and detailing the piece. Condition: Loose in later wrappers, soiling to original front and rear cover, internally clean, with overall toning. Ref: 107811 Price: HK$ 6,000
The Metropolitan Museum's miniature secretary incorporating a watch (46.184a–c) is perhaps a surviving fragment of a larger work described in the 1773 Descriptive Inventory as ‘Piece, the Seventeenth: A superb Cabinet’. If so, the Museum's miniature has lost the revolving sphere on its top described in the inventory, and it has been parted from a stand consisting of a ‘gilt rock, in front of which is a cascade and running stream of artificial water, where swans are seen swimming in contrary directions; at the corners of the rocks are Dragons with extended wings.’ This extravagant assemblage was in turn displayed on a crimson velvet pedestal with a silver-mounted glass cover to keep out the dust. The inventory goes on to describe the eighteenth object as a duplicate of the seventeenth. A comparable miniature cabinet exists in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, as well as at least one other, more elaborately decorated, example in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. It is possible, therefore, to suggest that, like the nearly identical jewelled automaton in the Cox watch (1977.436.4) and nécessaire (57.128a–o), these delightful secretaries may have belonged to a series of items that were sold separately or inserted into a larger assemblage. Reference: Heilbrunn, James Cox: Goldsmith and Entrepreneur, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Charles E Benham, A Perpetual Clock - the Ingenuity of James Cox, scientific American supplement, New York, number 1751, Vol. 68, 2 October 1909. Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cox%27s_timepiece.
pp. [2] iii-x, 11-46 [2]. Pagination includes outer wrappers, as issued as a pamphlet. Loose in later marbled card wrapper.
Lacking the single sheet fold out advertisement to the front , printed on one side showing a vignette of a pair of 44 ct. diamond drop earrings made to accompany a bust of the Empress of Russia, a description of these earrings and details of the lottery to win them. And lacking the fold out single sheet with engraving of ‘Mr. Cox’s Perpetual Motion, A Prize in the Museum Lottery’ the verso titled ‘The Perpetual Motion’ and detailing the piece. Condition: Loose in later wrappers, soiling to original front and rear cover, internally clean, with overall toning. Ref: 107811 Price: HK$ 6,000