Made for China: European Time Treasures
In 1601, during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Wanli, an extraordinary visitor appeared at court in Beijing. He was Matteo Ricci, a tall, bearded Italian Jesuit dressed in the black-silk robes of a Chinese scholar and able to converse with the emperor's courtiers in perfect Mandarin.
Ricci presented the emperor with a caravan's worth of gifts: paintings revealing European perspective techniques, a clavichord, glass prisms, maps and Western scientific texts in Chinese. But the gifts that caused Ricci's hosts to gasp with wonder, because China had no equivalents, were two ornate mechanical clocks that chimed the hours.
Ricci had hoped to do more than dazzle; he wanted to convert the Chinese elite to Roman Catholicism, believing the rest of the population would follow. But, according to Catherine Pagani, a professor at the University of Alabama and author of "Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity: Clocks of Late Imperial China" (University of Michigan Press, 2001), Ricci's main success was in sparking a long and passionate love affair between the Chinese and Western-made mechanical clocks and pocket watches. By 1725, the emperor and members of the court owned thousands of mechanical clocks and watches.
While China was rich and powerful at the time of Ricci's arrival, its timekeeping had been based on low-tech water clocks, Ms. Pagani says in an interview. "Still," she says, "the emperors weren't thinking, 'Now that I have these Western clocks I can call my meetings on time.' It wasn't about timekeeping, it was about status and power and control of an exotic, imported, advanced technology." Several emperors wrote poems celebrating their beloved, "self-sounding bells" (zimingzhong in Chinese). And starting in the 18th century, Western watches and clocks were featured in Chinese paintings and literature.
European watchmakers began producing elaborately decorated and highly complex mechanical clocks and watches specifically to suit the tastes of the Chinese market. Later many made their way back to Europe, carried by traders or as the spoils of war, and today they are collectors' items.
Recently, prices have been rising, pushed up by demand from a growing number of wealthy Chinese. While the making of watches for the Chinese market started with Ricci and lasted into the early 20th century, the timepieces from its heyday, about 1750 to 1850, are the most valuable. At auctions in Europe, the U.S. and Hong Kong, many fetch six-figure sums. (There is a lower end where prices hover between ￡5,000 and ￡20,000, usually pieces that are less elaborate and often in need of extensive restoration.)
Created by a band of craftsmen who knew nothing of the modern idea of "planned obsolescence," most of these robust timepieces -- made to endure the voyage from Europe to China -- still function or can be repaired.
For decades, timepieces made for the Chinese market were a subject for academic experts, museums and a few collectors. But that's changing, says London antique-watch dealer Johnny Wachsman of Pieces of Time. "We first picked up this trend about five years ago, but over the last three years we have noticed a marked increase in interest in 18th- and 19th-century watches made for the Chinese market, especially those at the high end, the ￡50,000 to ￡100,000 bracket. And much of that interest is coming from China."
Dealers and auction-house representatives are spending more time in China, aiming to develop relationships with collectors. Though auctions anywhere other than Hong Kong are rare in China, specialist watch auctioneer Antiquorum opened its first office there in Shanghai last October, joining Christie's, which already had offices in Shanghai and Beijing.
The watches and clocks Chinese nobility doted on during the 18th century mainly came from England. "At that time, the English occupied the same position in the world that the Swiss do now: They were the undisputed masters of watchmaking," says Brendon Thomas, a director and horological expert at the Geneva office of Antiquorum.
At the Chinese court, Ricci, an accomplished watchmaker himself, trained four eunuchs to make clocks and watches. They were the start of an imperial workshop that also employed Western craftsmen, producing many of the clocks and watches in the palace collection and repairing and servicing gifts from Western governments and visitors. But, according to Ms. Pagani, native production didn't supplant Western products in the hearts of the Chinese elite until the second half of the 19th century.
In 18th-century Europe, timepieces were also a sign of wealth and status, and the English style the Chinese so admired included a vogue for pocket watches with elaborately decorated gold cases, encrusted with pearls, gold and semiprecious stones, combined with delicate enamel paintings. Inside the watches and clocks were complex mechanisms that struck gongs or imitated the sounds of animals. Other popular features were music boxes and automata -- mechanical devices that simulate the movement of people, animals or water.
The Chinese also appreciated the English habit of setting watches into everyday objects. James Cox, the most fashionable English watchmaker of the late 18th century, in 1765 produced a hand fan that opened to reveal a Greek mythology scene on one side and an idyllic rural scene on the reverse. The spokes are made of gold, silver, and ivory and decorated with rubies and emeralds. Set into the fan's pivot is a tiny gold watch. The fan was later presented as a gift to China's imperial family.
Last year Antiquorum in Geneva sold the fan to a collector for 115,000 Swiss francs. Perhaps an illustration of how the market has changed, the fan watch failed to sell at a 2001 auction when it didn't reach its reserve price, the lower limit set by the seller.
In 1770, Cox's workshop turned out a small brass telescope embellished with gold, enamel paintings of animals and, at the large end, a built-in watch with a ring of rubies around the dial and diamond-studded hands. A rare find, the telescope in June 2000 sold for 658,000 Hong Kong dollars, or �70,659, at an Antiquorum auction.
Cox also indulged another Chinese preference: watches in matched pairs. Arnaud Tellier, director of the Patek Philippe museum in Geneva, home to one of the finest collections of Chinese market watches in Europe, offers a few explanations for this practice (
www.patekmuseum.com). "It may have been a commercial consideration; selling two watches meant more money for the watchmaker. If a customer had to send the watch to London or Switzerland to be fixed, it could take years, so he had another one to wear." Mr. Tellier says the Chinese also saw pairs as a part of the natural order: We have two eyes, two arms, a man and a woman make a pair, as do the sky and the earth.
The pairs phenomenon is an attraction for collectors, says London dealer George Somlo, who has been selling these watches since the 1970s. "Some collectors see one beautiful watch made for the Chinese market and know that there is probably another one just like it out there somewhere. Knowing you might find the missing one of a pair inspires people to keep looking."
The watches made to suit Chinese tastes were in general far more flamboyant than those sold in Europe and the U.S. The Chinese liked their clocks even more elaborate than their watches, says Ben Wright, international director of the clock department at Christie's in London. "Clockmakers had to employ many different skills from several different craftsmen: enamel painters, gold- and silversmiths and jewellers."
Clocks for the Chinese market often resemble Western wedding cakes, with tier upon tier of gold and intricate decorative motifs. The Western makers soon learned that the Chinese favored the color blue and appreciated decorations such as wheels representing Chinese fireworks displays and creatures that figure in Chinese mythology. While Westerners also prized elaborate clocks with automata, they usually saw them as entertainment; at the Chinese court, clocks that reproduced waterfalls and sea waves provided the owner, often restricted to the palace, with a link to nature.
One of the most elaborate Chinese-market clocks went under the hammer at Christie's in London in June 2003, selling for ￡565,250. Made in London with the help of Swiss artisans in the late 18th- or early 19th century, the five-tiered, 117-centimeter-high clock is a festival of decoration and movement, including sea serpents and dolphins spouting water (simulated by glass rods); whirligigs rotating in time to a music box; and at the top a 13-point starburst that opens and closes.
Two years earlier, Christie's in London sold a Chinese-market clock with a diplomatic history for ￡223,750. Made in London by Borrell in the late 18th century, the 70-centimeter-high clock is an orgy of gold and enamel depicting peacock feathers, lions' heads, birds and floral patterns, with a spinning wheel on top. Below the clock face is a sliding panel that pulls back to reveal an ingenious automata of tiny metal ships moving through a sea of moving glass waves. A waterfall, also simulated with moving glass rods, plunges into the sea. The first British ambassador to Beijing, Lord George Macartney, presented it to the Chinese court on his arrival in 1793. His mission to negotiate trading rights failed. But the emperor kept the clock.
While the English dominated the marketplace at first, Europe's rising watch-making power, Switzerland, developed several strategies for overcoming its rival. The Swiss had a major advantage: Their watchmakers, often farmers needing an income during the snowbound winter months, were paid far less than their highly trained urban English counterparts.
To compensate for Switzerland's less-prestigious standing, some Swiss companies set up offices in London where they imported and assembled Swiss parts into watches that could legally be classified as made in London. Eventually English watchmakers imported Swiss watches, stamping them with their own names. By about 1820, nearly all timepieces bound for China, regardless whose named appeared on them, were made by the Swiss.
The Swiss employed another weapon: market research. "The English had a lock on sales to the imperial court so the Swiss looked at what other people in China, mostly rich merchants, wanted, and adapted their watches to those tastes," Ms. Pagani says. Captains of Western ships soon learned that if they wanted to unload their cargo and quickly return home, a bribe of a pair of watches to a harbor master helped.
Some Swiss timepiece makers even set up shop in China. Serving the huge, varied and affluent Chinese market brought out the creative side of Swiss watchmaking.
In 1820, Swiss watchmakers Piguet & Meylan produced an 18-karat-gold pocket watch known as "Barking Dog with Cat." On the front of the watch is a small dial set over a scene of a dog chasing a cat. Any time you press a button on the crown of the watch, you will hear the hour, but not as chimes -- instead, a tiny bellows inside the watch imitates a dog's barks. The dog moves its head with each yelp. The watch was sold by Antiquorum in Geneva last year for 63,250 francs.
Painting with enamels had long been a Swiss speciality and for the pairs of pocket watches aimed at the Chinese market they devised a clever innovation: mirror images. Traditionally, enamel figures on the backs of watches were identical, but the Swiss painted the figure on the back of one watch looking right and the other looking left. "Romantic Ladies," a pair of silver pocket watches made in this style by Leo Juvet in 1875, sold last year in Hong Kong for 109,250 Hong Kong dollars.
A stunning display of Swiss watchmaking for the Chinese market is a pair of faux gold flintlock pistols decorated with pearls and blue enamel, made around 1806 in Geneva by Moullnié Bautte & Cie. Watches are concealed behind covers in each pistol's handle. Pull the trigger and at the end of the barrel a gold lotus flower opens and an atomizer sprays perfume. The pistols fetched 429,750 francs in Antiquorum's Geneva auction last October.
It's impossible to quantify how many watches were made for the Chinese market. But it was substantial enough that most of the major Swiss suppliers went under when demand eventually collapsed. In the second half of the 19th century, the Chinese elite fell out of love with things from the West. The rest of the population kept buying for a time, but civil war and invasions ultimately ended the market.
How did these prized watches and clocks find their way to the West? That, too, is a tale of wars, revolutions and fleeing refugees.
"In the 19th and 20th centuries, invading armies from the West and from Japan looted palaces of the imperial family and homes of wealthy people in China," Mr. Tellier explains. Soldiers took the timepieces home with them. Many of the objects taken by the Japanese were removed from Japan by American troops after World War II.
With the victory of Mao and the Communists in 1949, many refugees who fled to Hong Kong used the watches to bribe border guards. After the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s, the Chinese government regularly invited a select group of Western antique dealers to Beijing, Mr. Tellier says. These secretive dealers, many of whose names aren't known even now, bought thousands of 18th and 19th century watches and clocks that had been confiscated from citizens, he says.
"Buy a watch or clock and you buy a piece of history" is a saying among collectors. It couldn't be more apt when applied to clocks and watches made for the Chinese market.
为中国而造的西洋钟表
在万历年间的1601年，一位不同寻常的访客出现在中国宫廷之中。他就是利玛窦(Matteo Ricci)，一位身材高大、蓄著胡须、身穿中国传统黑色丝绸长袍的意大利传教士，他能和皇帝的臣子们用流利的汉语谈笑风生。
利玛窦敬献给皇帝许多礼物：展示欧洲透视技巧的绘画、翼琴、玻璃镜、地图和译成中文的西方科学读物。不过让主人惊讶万分的礼物是两架华丽的、能报时的机械钟表，这在中国还从未出现过。
赢得赞叹不是利玛窦的唯一愿望；他还希望中国的上流阶层能皈依天主教，并相信老百姓会追随他们的脚步。不过阿拉巴马大学教授、《东方辉煌与欧洲精巧：中国封建社会晚期的钟表》(Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity: Clocks of Late Imperial China)一书作者凯瑟琳?帕加尼(Catherine Pagani)认为，利玛窦最大的成功是激发了中国人对西方机械钟表及怀表矢志不渝的热爱。1725年时，皇帝和臣子们拥有的机械钟表和手表已经数以千计。
帕加尼在接受采访时表示，虽然利玛窦来华时正值中国的强盛时期，但长久以来中国一直以漏刻计时。她说，“不过皇帝们考虑的并不是‘有了西方钟表，我就可以准时召集会议了。’钟表和计时没什么关系，它代表的是地位、权力，以及对一种奇异的、外来的、先进的科技的掌控。”有些皇帝还写诗赞美他们锺爱的“自鸣钟”。从18世纪开始，在中国的绘画和文学作品中出现了西方手表和钟表。
为了迎合中国人的审美趣味，欧洲钟表匠开始制造装饰精美、结构复杂的机械钟表和手表。后来其中许多表又被商人转卖或作为战利品重新带回了欧洲，如今它们成了收藏家追逐的对象。
由于一些富有的中国人热衷此道，最近的收藏价格一路上扬。虽然为中国市场制表始于利玛窦时期并持续到了20世纪早期，但制造于1750-1850年间，也就是制表业最辉煌时期的表是最有价值的。在欧洲、美国和香港的拍卖会上，许多这个时期的表都价值几十万英镑。（价格也可能低至5千至2万英镑，这些表通常不够华丽或者需要大规模修复。）
那时的制表工匠对“有计划的废止”──也就是有计划的废除现有时尚，创造新的流行风格──这类现代观念一无所知，因此这些必须经受住从欧洲到中国长途跋涉的计时工具大多数依然报时准确或者可以修复。
几十年来，专为中国市场制造的表只是学术专家、博物馆以及一些收藏家的兴趣所在。不过伦敦古董表交易商强尼?瓦克斯曼(Johnny Wachsman)说，这种情况正在发生变化。“我们最早注意到这股潮流是在大约5年前，不过最近3年来我们发现，人们对18-19世纪为中国市场制造的表兴趣增加了，尤其是那些高端的、售价在5万至10万英镑的表。这类交易兴趣主要来自中国。”
为了和收藏家加强来往，交易商和拍卖行代表在中国停留的时间也越来越长。虽然在除香港以外的中国地区拍卖会并不常见，但专业手表拍卖行安帝古伦(Antiquorum)去年10月在上海开设了首家办事处，而佳士得(Christie)也已经在上海和北京开设了办事处。
在18世纪深得中国王公大臣们喜爱的手表和钟表主要出自英国。安帝古伦日内瓦办事处主管、钟表专家布朗东?托马斯(Brendon Thomas)说，“当时英国制表业在世界上的地位相当于如今的瑞士：英国人是制表业无庸置疑的佼佼者。”
利玛窦本人也是个颇有造诣的制表工匠，他将制表技术传授给了中国宫廷中的四名宦官。这些人就成为中国宫廷作坊的第一批成员，作坊中也雇佣了西方工匠，由他们制作的许多钟表和手表被宫廷收藏，他们也负责维修西方政府、访客赠送给皇室的礼物。不过帕加尼认为，国内产品并未取代中国上流阶层心目中西方表的地位，这种情况直至19世纪后半期才发生了改变。
在18世纪的欧洲，表也是财富和地位的象征。就怀表而言，中国人欣赏的英国风格是：纯金外壳，镶嵌珍珠、黄金和次等宝石，并绘有精细的瓷釉画。钟表内部拥有复杂的机械系统，可以报时或者模仿鸟儿的叫声。音乐盒和自动装置──这种机械装置能模仿人和动物的动作或者水的运动──也很受欢迎。
对于英国人喜爱将手表置于日常用品中的做法，中国人也十分欣赏。18世纪末期走在时尚最前沿的英国制表匠詹姆斯?考克斯(James Cox)在1765年制作出一把扇子，扇面打开后一面展示希腊神话场景，一面则是乡村田园风光。扇骨由金、银和象牙制成，并嵌有红宝石和绿宝石装饰。扇子的轴心镶有一块很小的金表。这把扇子后来作为礼物送给了中国皇室。
在安帝古伦去年于日内瓦举行的拍卖会上，这把扇子以115,000瑞士法郎的价格被一位收藏家买走。而在2001年的拍卖会上这把扇子则因为报价未达底线而流拍，这也许可以反映出市场的变化。
1770年，考克斯的作坊制作出一架小型铜制望远镜，表面以纯金镶嵌并饰有动物图案的瓷釉画，在望远镜远端镶有一块手表，表盘和指针分别以红宝石和钻石装饰。因为稀有，这架望远镜在安帝古伦2000年6月的拍卖会上以658,000港元（合70,659欧元）的价格售出。
考克斯还沉迷于另一种中国趣味：对表。日内瓦百达翡丽(Patek Philippe)博物馆的中国表藏品在欧洲首屈一指，馆长阿诺?泰利耶(Arnaud Tellier)对于这种现象的解释是(
www.patekmuseum.com)：“这也许是一种商业考虑；对表可以让表匠赚更多的钱。如果客户把表送到伦敦或者瑞士修理，那么可能要花费几年时间，这样他还有另一块表可以用。”泰利耶还说，中国人将成双成对看作是自然法则的一部分：我们有两只眼睛、两条手臂、男人和女人配成一对，天空和大地也是一对。
自20世纪70年代开始从事对表交易的伦敦交易商乔治?绍姆洛(George Somlo)说，对表对于收藏家来说很有吸引力。“一些收藏家看到了一只专门为中国制造的手表，并且知道可能还有一只同样精美的手表流失在外。知道你可能找到那块遗失的手表，这成了人们继续寻找的动力。”
迎合中国品位的手表一般要比销往欧美的手表华丽得多。佳士得伦敦钟表部门国际业务主管本?赖特(Ben Wright)说，中国人喜欢的钟表样式要比手表更加繁复精美，“钟表匠必须利用许多不同的技术，得到瓷釉画师、金匠、银匠和宝石匠的帮助。”
为中国市场制造的钟表与西方的婚礼蛋糕有些类似：金碧辉煌并饰有华美精致的图案。西方工匠很快认识到中国人喜欢蓝色，还对象征中国烟花的轮转烟火及中国神话人物图案情有独锺。西方人也喜爱有自动装置的钟表，不过他们大多将其视为一种娱乐消遣；而在中国宫廷，能重现瀑布和海浪的钟表可以让深居宫廷内院的主人感受到一丝自然的气息。
2003年6月，一只极为复杂精美的中国市场钟表在佳士得拍卖行以565,250英镑的价格拍出。这只钟表制造于18世纪晚期或19世纪初的伦敦，瑞士工匠也参与其中。这只分五层、高117厘米的钟表将装饰和运动完美结合，钟表上有喷水的海蛇和海豚（水柱由玻璃柱代表）以及音乐盒。
此前两年，伦敦佳士得以223,750英镑的价格售出了一只具有外交意义的中国市场钟表。18世纪晚期由博雷尔(Borrell)在伦敦制造的这只钟表有70厘米高，表面用黄金和瓷釉描绘出孔雀羽毛、狮子头、鸟类和花朵的图案，顶部还有纺车装饰。钟表内部装有滑动板，打开后可以看到一个精巧的自动装置，一只金属小帆船正在破浪穿行，还有瀑布倾泻入海。浪花和瀑布都以玻璃替代。英国访华的第一个使节乔治?马嘎尔尼(George Macartney)在1793年到达中国时将这只钟表敬献给朝廷。他争取对华贸易权利的使命未能达成，不过皇帝留下了这只钟表。
虽然英国人最初控制了市场，但欧洲制表业的新锐力量──瑞士却逐渐占了上风。瑞士的一大优势是：他们的制表匠比技艺高超的、来自城市的英国同行工资要少得多。瑞士工匠大多是农民，他们在大雪纷飞的冬季农闲季节需要赚取收入。
为了提高瑞士表的声望，一些瑞士公司在伦敦设立了办事处，并在那里进口并组装瑞士零件，这样制造出的表就可以合法地被称作是伦敦制造。英国制表匠后来开始进口瑞士手表，并打上自己的标志。在大约1820年前后，几乎所有销往中国的钟表和手表，不论标签上的名称如何，实际上都产自瑞士。
瑞士人还运用了另一个武器：市场调查。帕加尼说，“英国人垄断了宫廷贸易，因此瑞士人开始注意中国其他客户──大多是富商的需求，并将手表改造成他们喜欢的样子。”西方船只的船长们很快认识到如果他们想尽快卸货回家，那么用一对手表贿赂码头负责人大有帮助。
一些瑞士制表商甚至在中国开设了商店。服务于规模巨大、需求多样、富庶的中国市场为瑞士制表业带来了创新。
1820年，瑞士制表匠Piguet & Meylan制作出一只被称作“吠犬和猫”的18K金怀表。怀表正面描绘的是小狗追逐猫咪的场景，画面中间有一个小表盘。只要按下怀表转柄的柄头，你就会听到报时，不过并不是当当当的钟声，而是从手表内部发出的模仿狗叫的汪汪声。小狗每叫一声还会摆头。这只表去年由安帝古伦拍卖行以63,250法郎拍出。
瓷釉绘画一直是瑞士人的专长，他们对面向中国市场的对表进行了创新：那就是镜像。两只手表背面的瓷釉画图案传统上一模一样，不过在瑞士工匠笔下，手表背面的图案一个面向左，一个面向右。1875年由莱奥?朱韦(Leo Juvet)制作的银制怀表正属此类，这对名为“浪漫女子”的怀表去年在香港以109,250港币的价格售出。
展示瑞士高超制表工艺的是一对镶有珍珠和蓝色瓷釉的镀金火枪，它是1806年前后在日内瓦由Moullnié Bautte & Cie制作的。手表藏在手枪枪托之中。扳动扳机后，枪管末端的金色莲花就会开放，喷雾器也将喷出香水。它们在安帝古伦去年10月在日内瓦的拍卖会上以429,750法郎的价格拍出。
人们无法知道西方为中国市场到底生产了多少钟表和手表。不过可以确定的是，当中国市场的需求一落千丈时，大多数主要的瑞士制表商也随之破产。在19世纪后半期，中国上流阶层不再热衷于西方商品，虽然其他阶层在一段时间内仍然支撑了市场，但随著国内战争和侵略者的到来，中国市场最终不复存在了。
那么这些珍贵的手表和钟表如何回归西方的呢？这同样也是一个有关战争、革命和难民的故事。
泰利耶解释说，“在19-20世纪，来自西方和日本的侵略者将中国的皇宫和富商住宅洗劫一空。”士兵将这些表带回了家。许多被日本人抢去的表在二战后被美国士兵运走。
毛泽东领导的中国共产党在1949年夺取政权时，许多逃往香港的难民用手表贿赂边界卫兵。泰利耶说，在20世纪60年代末的文化大革命之后，中国政府定期邀请一些特别指定的西方古董交易商到北京。他说，这些秘密交易商的名字至今也不为人知，他们购买了数以千计的18-19世纪的手表和钟表，这些表都是从中国公民手中没收来的。
收藏家常说，“收藏手表或者钟表也就是收藏了一段历史。”这段话用在中国市场的钟表和手表上再合适不过了。
