Ask the Scholar

The clock was gifted to President Obama by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar during the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Meeting in May 2015. The companion clock to Artifact FO.111279 that was gifted later to the First Lady in November 2015, this gold-plated bird clock mechanism tweets, turns, and flaps its wings once per hour. The completely mechanical bird, made by music box atelier Reuge of Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, is modeled after a common chiffchaff, or warbler. The back panel of the box lifts to access the 15 mechanical automatons made up of 500 individually made pieces. Etched into the back is text about the Islamic Golden Age and that the bird was created to honor the scholar and polymath Ismail al-Jazari (1186 CE -1206 CE). When the mechanism is wound, one can listen to the Common Chiffchaff bird sing his song on the hour.