# The object the museum keeps running > Six objects in this archive are still wound, played or demonstrated by the institutions that hold them. For each, on display and in working order are separate states with separate dates, and one of them lost its working state without anyone recording when. > The Study - 2026-09-11 > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/study/the-object-the-museum-keeps-running/ ## Key points - Six objects in this archive are kept in working order by the institutions that hold them and are run in public on a schedule or on named occasions: two automata groups, three stringed instruments and a piano. Each has a different rule for who may operate it. - For a working object the record needs three dated states, not one: whether it is on view, whether it works, and when it was last used. The Silver Swan was on view and not working from 2020 to March 2024. The Writer at Neuchatel is on view and out of order today. - The Beethoven Broadwood was restored to playing condition in 1991-92, toured and recorded, and by 2018 was described as no longer playable. No source we found records the event in between, which is the gap a working-object record exists to prevent. - Playing is a custodial decision written down. Genoa's published philosophy for Il Cannone limits use to carefully chosen occasions; UCLA lets competition winners play the Duke of Alcantara; the Bowes Museum publishes a daily time. ## Six objects in this archive are still wound, played or demonstrated ## The Silver Swan performs at 2pm and did not perform for four years ## At Neuchatel two of the three automata run on the first Sunday, and the Writer does not ## Il Cannone is played on chosen occasions, by a rule the city wrote down ## The Duke of Alcantara lives in a vault and comes out as a prize ## The Marylebone cello is off view and still in the working collection ## The Beethoven Broadwood shows how a working state gets lost without a record ## What on display does not tell you about a working object ## Why this archive is free to read A working object is three facts, not one: where it is, whether it works, and when it was last used. Four of the six custodians here publish all three and the fifth publishes a rule; the sixth has a restoration date and a silence, and the silence is where the object's history will be lost. Write the working state with the date you confirmed it, because a machine on view and a machine that runs are not the same thing, and the visitor will know the difference. ## Questions **When does the Silver Swan perform?** Once a day at 2pm at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, according to the museum's media release of 14 March 2024, which announced the return of daily performances from Tuesday 19 March 2024 after a conservation programme of more than fifteen hundred hours. The museum is open from 10am to 5pm daily. **Can you see the Jaquet-Droz automata working?** The Musician and the Draughtsman are demonstrated at 2, 3 and 4pm on the first Sunday of every month at the Musee d'Art et d'Histoire, Neuchatel, and by reservation for groups. The Writer is out of order because of a defective part, according to the museum's own notice as read on 11 September 2026, and remains on display. **Is Paganini's violin still played?** Yes, on occasions chosen by the city of Genoa, which has owned it since 1851. The winner of the Premio Paganini competition has traditionally been given the chance to play it since 1953, and named soloists have played it in concert and on recordings, most recently in our record in November 2020. **Is Beethoven's Broadwood piano playable?** It was restored to playing condition in 1991-92, toured with Melvyn Tan and recorded by him for EMI in 1992 and by Andras Schiff for Hungaroton in 1994. A 2018 article on the bicentenary of its arrival in Vienna describes it as no longer in playing condition and says a replica was used for the anniversary concerts. We found no published account of when or why the working state was lost. ## Sources - [1] The Bowes Museum, media release, '1500 hours of painstaking work with several thousand parts make a working Silver Swan', 14 March 2024, PDF. Read in full. Source for the 2pm daily performance from 19 March 2024, the four-year gap, the Cumbria Clock Company, the interns, and the 146,324 pound grant and 20,375 pound crowdfunding total. - [2] The Bowes Museum, 'Silver Swan Maintenance', account of the 2012 maintenance visit by the clockmaker Matthew Read and the 2008 programme. - [3] Musee d'Art et d'Histoire de Neuchatel, 'The Jaquet-Droz automata', collection page. Read in the in-app browser on 11 September 2026. Source for the first-Sunday demonstrations at 2, 3 and 4pm, the reservation terms, the gift of 1 May 1909, and the notice that the Writer is out of order. - [4] Iconotheca, record for Il Cannone, Guarneri del Gesu, 1743, with the city of Genoa's conservation sources, the line of conservators from Praga to Carlson, the 2004 restoration conference and the named performances. - [5] Iconotheca, record for the Duke of Alcantara Stradivari, 1732, including the 1967 theft, the 1994 identification, the Los Angeles Superior Court settlement of 1 December 1995 and UCLA's competition rules for playing it. - [6] Iconotheca, record for the Marylebone cello, Stradivari, 1688, Smithsonian accession 2000.0013, including the 1964-2012 display period and the curator-cellist Kenneth Slowik's performances. - [7] Iconotheca, record for the Broadwood grand piano sent to Beethoven, Hungarian National Museum, including the 1991-92 restoration by David Winston, the Melvyn Tan tour and 1992 EMI recording, the 1994 Hungaroton recording and the 2018 bicentenary report that the instrument is no longer playable. - [8] Art UK, 'The Silver Swan', The Bowes Museum, object record X.4653, for the accession number and dating 1772-1774. - [9] Iconotheca, record for the Silver Swan, James Cox, about 1773, Bowes Museum, with the full maintenance chain from the 1940s to the 2023 programme and the 1872 versus 1873 acquisition discrepancy.