149,250 CHF
“Singing Bird Necessaire” Les Frères Rochat, musical movement attributed to Francois Lecoultre, and Charles Louis Desserre goldsmith. Geneva/France, made circa 1815. A superb and particularly rare gold, gilt-metal, mother-of-pearl and turquoise Boite a Necessaire, with Singing Bird and musical movements, Original plush-lined, tooled and gilt fitted case, the lid stamped with the initial P. within a scallop-shaped cartouche. Notes Provenance: Given in 1841 by the Hon. John Walpole, when Chargé d'Affaires at Valparaiso in Chile, to Amelia, wife of James Macleay (1811 -1892), his Secretary, on the latter’s departure for a post in South Africa. Mrs Amelia Macleay bequeathed the casket to her daughterin- law Mabel (née Anderson), who passed it on to her daughter Lina (1868 - 1935). Lina married Admiral Sir Robert Arbuthnot, Bt. who commanded the First Cruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, where he died, along with his entire crew, in HMS Defence. On the death of Lina, Lady Arbuthnot, it passed to her only daughter, Rosalind (Mrs. Anthony Anson, 1906 -1985), who placed it on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it remained from 1968 until 2004. The Hon. John Walpole (1787- 1864?). A British soldier, politician and diplomat. He was a member of the famous Walpole family that included Sir Robert Walpole, 1st. Earl of Orford, (1676 - 1745), generally considered the first British Prime Minister (1721 - 1742) and Horatio (Horace) Walpole (1717 - 1797) histori
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-11-13
