223,500 CHF
Piguet Meylan and Frederic Rochat, Geneve, No. 581, music attributed to Nicole Freres No. 634, completed circa 1828. Very fine and extremely rare, bronzed and ormolu, hour and half hour striking, musical clock with singing bird and automata. Designed as Medicis vase, the movement set in the bronzed body, with foliate gilt bronze bezel, applied ribbons and acanthus decoration, "eggs and dots" on the collar border, musical movement in the oval mahogany veneered base with glass dome protection. Automaton scene with multi-coloured feathered bird with moving, body, wings, tail, opening beak and turning head, perched on the fountain and flanked by realistic compositions of potted flowers and foliage, on the foreground, a boy and a girl, perched on a gilt see-saw, are playing with a paper-kite. White enamel with Roman numerals. Blued steel Breguet hands. Notes The music plays 3 minutes before the hour, then the singing bird and the automatons are activated, three minutes before the clock strikes. The mainspring of the clock is signed "Ls. Peupin", 1826, that of the of the automata: Boulet S'bre 1828., Vases with singing birds are extremely rare, three only are known to exist, including the clock offered now for sale. A very large one, by Ingold, previously in the Dugast Collection, is now in the Time Museum (Rockford Illinois), it is described and illustrated by A. Chapuis and E. Gelis in Le Monde des Automates, pages 127 to 129. The third one, now in a private collection Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1996-04-20
