Chinese artisans keep Qing emperors’ clocks alive and ticking
- Emperor Qianlong’s painstakingly repaired timepiece is one of 120 clocks and watches from The Palace Museum in Beijing now on show in Hong Kong
- The ‘Treasures of Time’ exhibition features pieces that are not only rich in historical and artistic value, but also reveal period’s sophisticated artisanship
When conservator Wang Jin opened the case of a bronze clock that belonged to Emperor Qianlong from the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), all he could see was a pile of rusty parts inside the cavity of the timepiece.
Some components of Emperor Qianlong’s clock were in the wrong place, while others were broken. The complicated mechanisms [made restoration all the more difficult]
“Some components of the clock were in the wrong place, while others were broken,” Wang, a research fellow at the clock studio of the conservation department at The Palace Museum in Beijing, who has mended about 300 timepieces over the past 40-odd years, says.
“The clock was designed to have many motions. The complicated mechanisms [made the restoration all the more difficult].”
The “gilt bronze clock with a country scene and water automaton” was a tribute from Britain to the emperor more than 200 years ago.
It shows a village scene featuring a farmhouse, water wheel and animals.
After activation, the music plays, the water-simulating glass rods revolve, the figures move, the wings of a hen and chicks flap and the neck of a goose flexes.
It took Wang almost a year to fully restore the bronze clock’s original glamour and functions.
The piece is now on display at the “Treasures of Time” exhibition, which is now being held at Hong Kong Science Museum.
