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Visiting Beijing
By John Harrold

Nine of the finest automaton clocks from the Palace Museum [the
national museum housed in the Forbidden City in Beijing], most of
which have a musical mechanism, were sent to Utrecht Museum for
restoration, subsequently being on display there for some time and
also the subject of a DVD and a book.  I was able to see and play
them on a personal visit and must rank it as one of my most
outstanding horological experiences.

Although only a small part of the total, originally being many hundreds,
these nine automata form part of the Palace Museum collection and are
a "must see".  Mostly they were made in the workshop of James Cox of
London, in the second half of the 18th Century.

It may pay you to speak to Utrecht to find out exactly where they are.

Best of luck,
John Harrold - from the snowy middle of England.

 [ The Palace Museum in the Forbidden City is described at
 [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collections_of_the_Palace_Museum 
 [ The web site of the Palace Museum is at
 [ http://www.dpm.org.cn/index1024768.html   -- Robbie


(Message sent Tue 12 Feb 2013, 15:05:06 GMT, from time zone GMT.)

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