The Silver Swan, Swimming Sumptuously since 1774

Susan reporting:

"I watched a silver swan, which had a living grace about his movements, and a living intelligence in his eyes – watched him swimming about as comfortably and as unconcernedly as if he had been born in a morass instead of a jeweler's shop – watched him seize a silver fish from under the water and hold up his head and go through all the customary and elaborate motions of swallowing it...."
             – The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain, 1869

We TNHG freely admit to a fascination with 18th c. automata. Whether made for a queen (like this one), or for the amusement of the general public in a museum, automata combine the beauty of fine jewelry, the intricate gears and clockwork of a music box, and the imagination of a master craftsman who dared to make things move long before batteries and computer chips.

Few of these gems remain today, their delicate mechanisms the victims of changing tastes and rust. The Silver Swan's survival is all the more amazing considering that it is, indeed, wrought almost entirely of silver, including 122 silver leaves in the base and 113 silver rings in the articulated neck.

Created by master clockmaker John-Joseph Merlin (1735-1803), the Swan first appeared as a featured attraction in James Cox's London Museum in the Spring Gardens between 1774 and 1782.  The Museum's collection included a peacock that spread its tail, jewel-studded elephants, and mechanized trumpets and drums playing God Save the King. Cox's Museum was a first-rate show (admission was a then-staggering 10s 6d), and Everyone went. The heroine of Fanny Burney's Evelina (1778) didn't think much of it, however: "This Museum is very astonishing and very superb, yet, it afforded me but little pleasure, for it is a mere show, though a wonderful one."

The attractions passed through several more owners and various museums over the next hundred years. Most of the pieces were eventually broken up or scattered. Miraculously the Swan escaped, continuing to charm viewers like Mark Twain. It was displayed at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867 before it was finally purchased in 1872 by collector John Bowes.  It became a favorite exhibit in the Bowes Museum, County Durham, England, where it remains to this day.

Recently cleaned, refurbished, and restored in 2008, the Silver Swan once again plays its original eight tunes, and continues to choose and swallow a silver fish from the shimmering pond of crystal rods. Although nearly 240 years old, the Swan still performs daily in the Bowes Museum, and, as this video proves, still possesses the power to amaze and delight.

 Here is an additional video about the Swan's restoration.