Jaquet Droz - The Charming Bird Automaton - Deconstructed Horology

High resolution, book format. Deconstruction Jaquet Droz The Charming Bird Automaton by THE NAKED WATCHMAKER Images from www.thenakedwatchmaker.com All texts, photographs and illustrations are Copyright ©2018 The Naked Watchmaker Edition JD1b Formatted for use on mobile telephones, laptops and tablets. All rights to this publication are reserved. It would be appreciated by the author that no part of this book may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, xerography and videography recording, with out the permission of The Naked Watchmaker. A Brief History From 1738 Pierre Jaquet-Droz started working in clockmaking. He produced a series of longcase clocks and married Marianne Sandoz in 1750. Soon after the birth of his two children, Julie in 1751 and Henri-Louis in 1752, Pierre Jaquet-Droz lost his wife, followed by his daughter in 1755. He met George Keith, Earl Marischal, governor of the principality of Neuchâtel, who advised him to present his clocks abroad, in Spain where he could help introduce him to the court. With this support, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, along with his father-in-law and a young hired hand named Jacques Gevril, they built a carriage specially designed to carry six clocks and set off for Spain in 1758. They travelled for 49 days and were received in Madrid by Don Jacinto Jovert, a Spanish nobleman. After a wait of several months, Pierre Jaquet-Droz presented his clocks to King Ferdinand VI of Spain. A few days later, the clockmaker received 2,000 gold pistoles in payment for the timepieces which were purchased for the royal palaces of Madrid and Villaviciosa. Upon his return to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1759, the sum of money he had brought back from Spain enabled Pierre Jaquet-Droz to concentrate on making watches, clocks and automata. Assisted by his son and a neighbour’s son, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, whom he had taken in after the death of the boy’s mother and thought of as his adoptive son. This was the beginning of a close partnership. From 1773 onwards, Jaquet-Droz and Leschot perfected and marketed increasingly sophisticated automata. Their work culminated with the three humanoid automata: The Writer, The Draughtsman and The Musician, presented in La Chaux- de-Fonds in 1774. Encouraged by this success, the Jaquet-Droz family took to the road to exhibit their products. From La Chaux- de-Fonds they travelled to Geneva and then, in 1775 to Paris where they presented the automata to Louis XVI and his queen, MarieAntoinette. They went on to show their work at the principal courts of Europe, with visits to London, Holland and Flanders in 1780 and 1781, as well as northern France. They returned to Paris in 1782, 1783 and travelled to Lyon in 1784. The automata were also demonstrated at the Russian court in Kazan, in Madrid and beyond. Pierre Jaquet-Droz decided to set up a workshop in London, under the management of his son, Henri-Louis. Exhausted by his travels, the latter delegated some of his responsibilities to JeanFrédéric Leschot. Leschot was tasked in particular with overseeing the business relationship with the prominent trading company James Cox London, whose agents in Canton opened up the Far Eastern market for the Jaquet-Droz Company and for many years represented it in China, India and Japan. Pierre Jaquet-Droz always had a passion for nature and birds which he illustrated through his clocks, snuff boxes, pocket watches and automata. Over 600 pieces were exported to China in 10 years, Jaquet-Droz father and son captivated the Qianlong Emperor himself and the Mandarins at the Imperial Court, who all had an interest in European mechanical watches and automata. Several Jaquet-Droz automata and pocket watches still remain in th