Miniature secretary incorporating a watch

Entrepreneur James Cox British

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 512

Bejeweled butterflies and flowers that tremble in the slightest breath of air adorn this whimsical object, which plays tunes on a hidden music box and incidentally tells the time. The spring mechanism that powers the music is wound by inserting a key into a hole hidden behind one of rosettes near the bulls that support the cabinet. Based on actual rococo European cabinet designs, but with some improbable additions, the miniature is known to have been in the collection of Princess Z. M. Youssoupof in Saint Petersburg in 1904. Although it has been said to have been taken from China after the Boxer Rebellion in 1899, it may, in fact, have been imported into Russia long before.

#413. Retail Value. High and Low

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Miniature secretary incorporating a watch, James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800), Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels, British, London

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Miniature secretary incorporating a watch, James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800), Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels, British, London
Miniature secretary incorporating a watch, James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800), Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels, British, London
Miniature secretary incorporating a watch, James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800), Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels, British, London
Miniature secretary incorporating a watch, James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800), Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels, British, London
Miniature secretary incorporating a watch, James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800), Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels, British, London

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