179,500 CHF
Attributable to the workshop of Jaquet Droz or that of Henry Maillardet, circa 1780. Fine and rare full-size gilt-metal singing bird clock with two birds and double fountain. Octagonal gilt bronze, gilt bronze urns on the canted corners flanked by fluted pilasters to the apex of each angle, with turned columns above terminating in flambeau urn finials; tortoiseshell veneered side panels with applied gilt-bronze floral decoration and ribbon foliage. Wirework above and ring suspension. Bombe white enamel, mounted below, with Breguet numerals regulator index. Engraved and gilt Louis XV hands with blued-steel centre-seconds. Mounted in the base below a silkcovered brass fret-work panel, the small clock movement with dead-beat verge escapement, the birdsong train with fusee and chain, rectangular section bellows and pin-drum for the 10 tin pipes, playing 6 different tunes, released after the stiking of the hour, or at-will by a pull-cord. Birds decorated with natural feathers, moving the body, head, beak, wings and tail. Double fountain of revolving twisted glass rods. Dim. 43 x 27 cm. Notes Although very rare, examples of a full size bird cage by jaquet- Droz & Leschot are illustrated in all the major works on automata. Examples are also to be found in the Peking Palace Collection and the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul. The bird mechanism is in fact a form of serincttc. Jaquet-Droz From 1752 to 1784, Pierre Jaquet-Droz was the firm of Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790), and when he b Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1998-04-18
