In pieces – the Siver Swan of Bowes

Jul 23 2008 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal

REGULAR visitors to the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle will be horrified to learn that its unique Silver Swan will soon be in 1,000 pieces.

But don’t panic, each and every piece is to be carefully removed and restored as part of a special conservation project due to begin in September.

Immortalised by novelist Mark Twain in his book The Innocents Abroad, the 230-year-old treasure – the only one of its kind in the world – will be carefully dismantled by specialist Matthew Read.

While visitors will be temporarily unable to see daily musical performances of the Swan during this period, which is expected to last up to three months, they will instead have a fabulous opportunity to watch Matthew at work on the life-size automaton, which has become an icon of Barnard Castle museum over the past 100 years.

The Museum’s founders, John and Joséphine Bowes, first saw the Swan at the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 and purchased it five years later from the Parisian jeweller M. Briquet. However, it had already been a crowd puller for almost a century before that, having first been recorded in 1774 in the Mechanical Museum of James Cox where it was operated by putting a coin in a slot.

Now for the first time in its history, every component will be recorded – digitally and in hard copy – to provide a complete conservation record.

Matthew, a 40-year-old Yorkshireman who has spent 25 years perfecting his craft as a clockmaker, said: “If you overlook the fact that the swan’s outer facade replaces a dial and hands, the mechanism comprises three complicated clocks linked together. I have worked on equally significant clocks, but to work on this iconic, internationally known automaton is both a great privilege and a great responsibility. ”

Gallery attendants will be available at specified times during the day to answer questions from interested onlookers, while the progress of the project will be monitored on the website at www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk

Once the work is finished the Silver Swan will be redisplayed with new interpretation, complemented by a new Silver and Metals Gallery.