7,500 CHF
BONTEMS, PARISIAN SINGING BIRD Bontems, Paris. Made circa 1900. Fine, tortoiseshell and gilt metal, singing bird box. Accompanied by a fitted box and key. Two-body, entirely made of tortoiseshell, gilt metal singing bird box cover engraved with two birds with fl ower and leaf border. Singing bird movement: rectangular plates with turned pillars, large spring barrel, rectangular bellows, the bird with moving wings, tail and beak controlled by large cams on the base and top of the barrel, gilt brass pierced and engraved grille. Punched “AB France” on the top plate. Dim. 98 x 58 x 35 mm. Notes An almost identical box with the same signature is illustrated in: Flights of Fancy – Mecahnical Singing Birds, Sharon & Christian Bailly, Antiquorum Editions, 2001, p. 310.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2011-11-13
