A rare gold and enamel carillon musical box

Guidon, Rémond, Gide, Geneva, 1792-1801



of oval form, the lid painted en plein with the Abduction of Helen, within enamelled borders, the base and sides unusually decorated with a diaperwork of rosettes in white, light and dark blue champlevé enamels, the side panels divided by urns on a ground pierced to make the music easier to hear, the base hinged to provide a snuff or key compartment, the visible carillon movement playing 3 tunes on 5 bells with skeletonised pinned cylinder

There appears to be a very small group of oval carillon boxes with very similar cases made in Geneva. For a carillon musical box of similar form, the lid painted with a different version of Helen's abduction, see Christie's Geneva, 19 November 1979, lot 111; the same subject in reverse, perhaps originally forming a 'Chinese' pair, appeared on a carillon box in the Emile Wertheimer Collection, Sotheby's, 13 July 1953, lot 137. Alfred Chapuis illustrates three movements from similar boxes which he ascribes to an English origin and another oval pearl-set gold and enamel Geneva case, painted with a classical betrothal or marriage (Histoire de la boîte à musique, Lausanne, 1955, figs. 125-8).