215,250 CHF
"Singing Canary" Attributed to Jaquet Droz, Geneve. Made circa 1770. Magnificent and possibly unique, gilt bronze, porcelain and enamel hanging birdcage clock with automaton canary which appears to breathe, singing seven tunes on the hour or at will. Notes Singing Bird Cages. Toward the end of the 17th century, it was a popular pastime to raise canary birds and teach them to sing. This fashion was the inspiration for the decorative objects using singing birds of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, of which this clock is an exam-ple. At first, the bird's song was provided by a serinette mecha-nism, as is the case here; later, the Jaquet-Droz were to invent the whistle with sliding piston, which allowed a much greater minia-turization and the imitation of true bird song. In this case, the bird sings popular tunes of the period. Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790) Born on July 28, 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Pierre Jaquet-Droz was the son of a farmer who was an occasional clockmaker as well. He studied humanities and philosophy in Basel from 1738 to 1739 and then became interested in horology. We know little of him as a person, only that he was sober, serious, taciturn, and very careful in his work. On October 25, 1750, Pierre Jaquet-Droz married Marianne Sandoz, the daughter of Civil Lieutenant Abraham Louis Sandoz, who was later to accompany Pierre on his trip to Spain. At the age of thirty-four, Pierre Jaquet-Droz was left a widower. He never remarried, and seems to ha Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-05-15
