$23,000
DuetAttributable to Bontems, Paris. Made circa 1880.Fine and very rare, tortoiseshell and silver double singing bird box. rectangular, hinged back panel for key compartment, top panel with oval aperture for the singing birds’ lid engraved with chasedacanthus leaf decoration opening via a slide in the case to reveal two birds. Rectangular, brass, turned pillars, large going barrel withtwo air and song cams underneath, two rectangular bellows, birds with moving head, flapping wings and tail, opening beak, long durationof singing, precision cam-controlled lifting mechanism, gilt grill pierced and engraved with floral pattern.Dim. 100 x 65 x 34 mm. Notes Singing bird boxes with double birds are exceptionally rare. At the end of the nineteenth century the Parisian firm of Blaise Bontemsmade only a few examples.Blaise Bontems (1814 - 1893)was an inventor and maker of moving and singing birds on clocks, groups and pictures, clocks, rope dancers and mechanical pieces.He was a supplier to the Queen of England, among others.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-12-02