Cabinet Clock (c. 1770–75): Art, History and Details

Cabinet Clock (c. 1770–75) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is James Cox (British).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In the 1700s and early 1800s, luxurious objects such as jewelry, miniatures, snuff boxes, and vanity cases emphasized their owner’s refinement and wealth. Especially popular were small cases with clocks and moving mechanical devices that played a handful of musical tunes. James Cox, the London goldsmith responsible for this clock and case, was known for creating such tuneful surprises, although this work no longer contains such a mechanism. Its glittering surface disguises a system based on the labor and suffering of enslaved people, whether in gold and stone mines or in shops where these goods were made by indentured apprentices. Many of these timepieces were designed for export and sold to the Chinese emperor Ch'ien Lung (1711–1799) and his court in attempt to balance out the substantial amount of tea that Britain was importing at the time.

Object facts

• Title: Cabinet Clock
• Date: c. 1770–75
• Creator attribution: James Cox (British)
• Culture: England, late 18th century
• Type: Miscellaneous
• Technique: gold, agate, enamel dial, glass
• Dimensions: Overall: 16.5 x 8.9 cm (6 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 2009.77

A detail from the museum

The doors of this miniature cabinet open to reveal two small drawers that held the winding keys for the clock above.

Collection credit

Gift of Howard F. Stirn

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.