Breathtaking Time: Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City
@ Science Museum, London
23 timepieces from the Imperial collection moved to the Science Museum in London to display their wonders. And we’d never seen anything like, although we created many of them three hundred years before.
The Palace Museum in Beijing is their usual home. French, British and other European merchants were desperate to break into the sophisticated heartland of mainland China, greedy for trading, influence and probably colonial invasive purposes. China had all kinds of admirable and desirable things, including silk, tea, porcelain, object d’art imitated by European Chinoiserie, style, grace and gem stones. But they were kept at arms length in a kind of corral for merchants outside of mainland China. European rivalries also played out in the battle of the clocks — and the French got there first! (Although London clockmakers were most celebrated and collectable, eventually).
They began as a form of cultural exchange, when 17th-century Italian missionaries presented the Emperor with mechanical timepieces. But things really got going in the 18th century. To win the Emperor’s heart (of the Qing dynasty), the creatives of Europe started creating elaborate decorative gifts, incorporating automata, so popular in this time as a trend. Learning of the Emperor’s clock collection or Zimingzhong “bells that ring themselves”, clockmakers got to work making magnificent works of art, incorporating Chinese-crafted decorative elements such as lotuses and cranes, as well as exquisite jewels. Crystal and semi-precious stones could impressively be cut to resemble waterfalls.
A British-made clock sprouts ‘Chinese’ dragons from every column, glittering with gilt embellishments on a plush velvet cushioned floor. Anachronistically Alexander the Great fights a gleaming battle in the midst of them all, and his embellished silver gilt soldiers peep out from every side. The there is the clock decorated with aesthetically pleasing European ladies — a world away from Asian beauty ideals. Yet, they were treasured as ‘foreign curiosities’ and the ruler of the skies soon discovered that keeping time even more accurately could be beneficial too. From predicting eclipses to organising the Imperial household. (Although Chinese mathematicians were already keeping time using impressive maths).
Sparkling with jewels and delicate gold, elephants holding up time were a frequent theme, with exquisite pearl fringed harnesses. A lotus clock hid figures inside some of the flowers, which would open at regular intervals. Not only did the clocks play music and figures pass by, but decorative palm fringed pineapples whirled. Then there was a pastoral with gambling sheep everywhere, and intricately scored work on the shepherd’s gilt jacket.
Most impressive of all was the belled temple, which had a tower, subsiding down and up again in time to the music, concertina fashion. And it’s a clock!
No wonder George IV caught the bug and was trying to create his own opulent version of the Forbidden City in Brighton Pavilion.
Though mostly statically displayed, due to their delicate natures, animations alongside showed the wonder of the clocks. These weren’t still items, but featured moving automaton parts. For example, a gilded farm yard and water mill was a riot of enormous palm, querulous chickens, an ox, a dog (barking), a donkey, goats, sheep and all kinds of other animals — all moving. And then there were the tunes! Intriguingly the clocks often combined European and Chinese decorative elements and technologies. It was also intriguing to see how both cultures ‘othered’ each other and got it wrong — such as ‘Chinese’ figures which move round the sides of the clock, looking distinctly European pastoral, hunting, shooting and fishing. Then there was the copy (probably illegal) of a European clock, but elements were back to front and the place where the clock was allegedly made, upside down! It was a fascinating time as two cultures stared and stared at each other, fascinated and appalled in equal measures, understanding and not understanding each other. Throughout they dialogue with each other about authenticity and representation. At the same time, they learnt to admire and cherish each other’s technical and artistic contributions — until the plug was pulled by a cost-saving Emperor!
For me it was a bit like seeing Faberge eggs — almost unreal. They were daintily bejewelled and ornamented with intricate graceful gold and gilded scroll work, with fringes of pearls, outsized jewelled flowers, elegant enamels…and then the animation, the music, the movements when wound too!
@ Images are used purely to illustrate the exhibition and are the property of the Museum Collection in Beijing and the Science Museum curated exhibition in London, not the author’s own, May 2024
Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City now open — Science Museum Blog
