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[[Categoria:Royal Collection]]-->
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[[Image:The Silver Swan, Bowes Museum - geograph.org.uk - 1467117.jpg|thumb|The Silver Swan at Bowes Museum]]
The '''Silver Swan''' is an [[automaton]] dating from the 18th century and housed in the [[Bowes Museum]], [[Barnard Castle]], Teesdale, County Durham, England. It was acquired by [[John Bowes (art collector)|John Bowes]], the museum's founder, from a Parisian jeweler in 1872.<ref name=wsj>{{Cite web|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324355904578159601753981708|title=Magic Wrought by a Merlin|
first1=Richard|last1=Holledge|publisher=[[Wall Street Journal]] |date=21 December 2012|accessdate=19 October 2014}}</ref>
The [[swan]], which is life-sized, is a [[clockwork]]-driven device that includes a [[Musical box|music box]]. The swan sits in a "[[stream]]" made of glass rods and surrounded by silver leaves. Small silver fish can be seen "swimming" in the stream.<ref name="bowes"/>
[[Image:Silver Swan.jpg|thumb|right|A small silver fish may just be seen in the foreground]]
When the clockwork is wound, the music box plays and the glass rods rotate giving the illusion of flowing water. The swan turns its head from side to side and also [[Preening|preens]] itself. After a few moments the swan notices the swimming fish and bends down to catch and eat one. The swan's head then returns to the upright position and the performance, which lasts about 32 seconds, is over. To help preserve the mechanism, the swan is only operated once each day at 2pm.<ref name="bowes"/>
The mechanism was designed and built by the [[Low Countries]] inventor [[John Joseph Merlin]] (1735–1803) in conjunction with the London inventor [[James Cox (inventor)|James Cox]] (1723–1800) in 1773.<ref name=wsj />
The swan was described in a 1773 [[Local and personal Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom|Act of Parliament]] as being 3 feet (0.91 m) in diameter and 18 feet (5.49 m) high.<ref>13 Geo III cap XLI ''James Cox Enabling Act'' contains an inventory of the pieces in Cox's museum, with descriptions: "A ƒwan, large as life formed of ƒilver…the whole eighteen feet high"</ref> This would seem to indicate that at one time there was more to the swan than remains today as it is no longer that high. It is said that there was originally a waterfall behind the swan, which was stolen while it was on tour – this could possibly explain the height which is now 'missing'.<ref name="bowes"/>
It is known that the swan was sold several times and was shown at the [[World's Fair]] ([[Exposition Universelle (1867)]]) held in [[Paris]], France. The American novelist [[Mark Twain]] observed the swan and recorded his observation in a chapter of the ''[[Innocents Abroad]]'',<ref name="bowes"/> writing that the swan "had a living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes.<ref name=wsj />"
The Bowes Museum believes that the Swan is their best-known artefact, and it is the basis of the museum's [[logo]].<ref name="bowes"/>
==Notes==
<references>
<ref name="bowes">
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110717043223/http://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/collections/the-silver-swan/history ''The Silver Swan''], description on a website of the ''Bowes Museum'' (archive at the Internet Archive – originally retrieved 15 August 2011)
</references>
==References and further reading==
▲}}</ref>
*{{cite journal|first=T. P. |last=Camerer-Cuss |title=The Silver Swan |journal=Antiquarian Horology |volume=4 |date=June 1965 |pages=330–34}}
==External links==
{{commonscat|Silver Swan (automaton)}}
*[https://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Collection/Explore-The-Collection/The-Silver-Swan ''The Silver Swan''], description on the website of the Bowes Museum
*[http://www.museumnetworkuk.co.uk/materials/galleries/cox.html ''Silver Swan''], photos and a description on an educational site
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOXqCuqDOiI HD video of the silver swan in motion]
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