Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Chinoiserie automaton

While working on a more in-depth post of a fantastic building I visited recently, I wanted to leave you with something just to let you know I'm still around! Located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a collection of ingenius bejeweled objects known as automatons. These machines, popular in the mid 18th century (as so many of my favorite things were!), were mechanical moving devices; a sort of early day robot! Often they were more than a mere toy and incorporated something useful, such as the clock seen here. Made by James Cox in London, 1766, this device still would fascinate and amaze the most ardent anti-antiquarian!

6 comments:

Maison de lin said...

Hello,

This quint of automatons are also my favorits. Thanks to sharing this whit us.

Greetings
Jérôme

Nadia Palacios said...

Lovely!

Parnassus said...

An intriguing object. In Fanny Burney's novel, Evelina, the characters at one point go to visit James Cox to see his collection of intricate jeweled creations.

Sandra Evertson said...

Fabulous blog!
Sandra Evertson

ChipSF said...

Cool!

Lord Cowell said...

It truly is an opulent and captivating piece of art. They don't come up for auction very often, and always command a decent price. It is good to some in museums, and not just in private collections.

Looking forward to you next building post. David.