Bowes Museum marks 250 years of Silver Swan

The Silver Swan features in the Mark Twain travel book The Innocents Abroad

A new museum exhibition is celebrating the 250th anniversary of a famed mechanical swan.

The Silver Swan, which appears to come to life once a day, first appeared at the Bowes Museum in County Durham in 1773.

Created in the 18th Century, the famed sculpture is even featured in Mark Twain's novel The Innocents Abroad.

A new exhibition to celebrate the "iconic" swan opened at the museum on Saturday.

The metal and glass structure, which dates from 1773 and contains 30lb (13kg) of silver, is operated by three clockwork mechanisms as it twists its head, preens and catches a golden fish.

The automaton seized up during lockdown and underwent "complex repairs".

Twain, who saw the swan at the 1867 Paris exhibition, later wrote about the "living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes".

It was bought by the museum's founders in 1872.

The Bowes Museum describes the swan as its 'most iconic object'

The Magic of the Silver Swan will exhibit until 7 January 2024 and includes moving objects and artworks from other creators.

It's described as "a celebration of automata, clockwork machines and how we can explore art through technology".