A Rare Silver, Gold and Enamel Singing Bird Box with Timepiece, Patek Philippe, Geneva, circa 1860, the Movement Attributed to Charles Bruguier

rectangular with slightly scalloped corners, the lid and sides decorated with bold opaque turquoise and black enamel strapwork on a silver ground engraved with scrollwork and leaf tip borders, the lid centred with a hinged oval enamel plaque in a slender gold frame, painted with an idyllic lake scene with boats at full sail, a church and snow-covered hazy mountains in the distance below a cloudy sky, signed: 'Feller' to lower right, probably for the painter J. Feller, opening to reveal a pierced gold grille from which a brightly-feathered singing bird (species: gallus domesticus) emerges who - when the lever is activated - turns its head, flaps its wings and opens and closes its beak carved in bone in tune with the music, the front side containing a hinged key compartment inset with a timepiece, the glazed white enamel dial within a gold bezel, the silver base centred with a plain oval cartouche within scrollwork frame on an engine-turned ground, formerly gilt, the interior of the key compartment signed 'Patek Philippe & Co. Geneva', serial no 26686, the hinged lid and a small plaque on the outer border of the base further engraved with the serial number: 1570,

Length 4 in., 10.1 cm