![]() While clocks were also purchased by the wealthy, the scarcity and high cost of the European clocks limited much of the consumption to the court, where the clocks were collected in vast numbers by the Qing dynasty emperors. Their appeal lay in their relative rarity, costly materials, and accessory functions of music, bells, and animated figures (fig. Western mechanical clockwork was a technology introduced to the Chinese from Europe in the late sixteenth century, and had no precedent in China.1 Though representative of an important technological development, these elaborate clocks were regarded by the Chinese as many things: status symbols, decorative items, and personal adornments, but not timepieces. Since these objects, known in China as zimingzhong(X\ or "self-sounding bells," required specialized skills in both their design and construction, and they were consumed by the Chinese elite, in particular the Qing emperors, they are ideal markers by which to gauge the impact of Imperial taste on the techniques and style of Chinese art. ![]() This paper will explore the connection between imperial patronage, artistic style, and the development of technical expertise in the decorative arts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by examining the production and consumption of one branch of the decorative arts: elaborate clocks. Yet, the effects of imperial taste extended beyond the court as artisans in the centres of Guangzhou (Canton) and Suzhou found that they, too, were producing objects for imperial use. These emperors, well known for their interest in the arts and the sciences, accumulated vast collections of decorative art objects in both Chinese and Western style, many of which were made through imperial command in workshops established within the Forbidden City expressly to meet this demand. The effect of Imperial patronage on the decorative arts of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) was strongest during the Kangxi (1662-1722) and Qianlong (1735-1795) periods.
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