A rare diminutive gold, enamel, and pearl singing bird box, the movement Rochat Freres, Geneva, Circa 1815
This lot has been withdrawn
Lot Details
Description
Caliber: the movement with key-wound spring barrel, the bellows and singing controlled by a sliding stack of eight cams with further fixed cams to control the movement of the bird
Case: rectangular, the body enameled in translucent scarlet within borders decorated in gold and turquoise taille d’épargne enamelling with delicate foliate scrollwork, the corners with ribbon-tied wreaths, the oval lid painted with a young girl playing with a pet squirrel and opening to reveal the bright-eyed bird with ivory beak and multi-colored feathers
Size: 73.5 x 48 x 24 mm
Signed: the case apparently unmarked, the movement with Frères Rochat maker's mark
Accessories: associated male key
Miniature marvels, like the present lot, became exceedingly popular during the late 18th century, particularly appealing to the Chinese market. The Emperor of China and his court were as fascinated by European mechanical novelties as the Europeans were by Chinese works of art. The Jesuit priest, Matteo Ricci, was allowed to enter the forbidden city of Peking with gifts of chiming clocks for the Emperor in 1600, Alfred Chapuis, La Montre Chinoise, p. 23. The Portuguese trading port of Macao (founded in 1514), and later established warehouses by European merchant companies in Hong Kong, solidified a strong platform for trade with the Chinese Market through Canton.
It had long been traditional to send objects to China in pairs. According to Alfred Chapuis, in Le Miroir de la Séduction, Musée Patek Philippe, Geneva, 2010, p. 28, "the Chinese love symmetry; all gifts to a superior, and above all the Emperor, were given in pairs." Rediscovering and reuniting pairs of singing bird boxes is thus an incredibly rare occasion.
Sotheby’s had the pleasure of offering what is likely the complementary pair of the present lot in The Collection of a Connoisseur, London, July 14th, 2020, lot 36, numbered 292. One can imagine that when placed together, the young girls mirror each other in their playfulness with their pet squirrels.
Of even greater rarity and interest, both singing bird boxes present a unique song sequence. As the cataloguer of the Palace Collections sale in 1954 pointed out – ‘the bird sings first the conventional bird song followed by a Swiss tune and then repeats the initial bird song’.
The sons of David Rochat of Le Brassus worked with the innovative firm of Jaquet-Droz & Leschot in the last years of the 18th century to produce snuff boxes, flasks, cages and temples all containing these ‘playthings for Kings’. Later they moved to Geneva and opened their own workshops to carry on the same traditions of fine craftsmanship and invention.
Illustrations of similar pieces by Frères Rochat as well as further information on singing bird automata, see Bailly, Sharon & Christian, Flights of Fancy, Geneva, 2001, pp. 211-260, with sister box and movement illustrated p. 250