Important Collectors' Watches, Pocket...
Geneva, Mar 16, 2008
LOT 21
Singing Bird Jaquet Droz, Genève. Made circa 1780. Very fine and very rare, gilt bronze and painted on enamel, eight-day going, center seconds, hanging bird cage clock with automaton bird, singing seven tunes on the hour and half-hour or at will.
CHF 100,000 - 150,000
USD 90,000 - 135,000 / EUR 62,000 - 95,000
Sold: CHF 167,200
C. Octagonal, the fine gilt bronze cage with eight turned pillars and vase finials, pierced and engraved side panels, wirework dome centered by a stiff-leaf cast terminal and ring suspension, the base with gilt bronze pilasters between green painted panels, each alternate panel mounted with a charming painted on enamel scene depicting a child enjoying a country pursuit and within a gilt bronze oval swag and trophy mount, the other panels set with cast and chased gilt bronze military trophies, the whole raised on eight stiff-leaf and flower feet. D. On the base, white enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic five minute numerals, arbor for the regulator. Pierced and engraved gilt brass hour and minute hands, blued steel center seconds hand. M. The clock movement: Rectangular brass plates measuring 105 x 70 mm, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance, blued steel flat balance spring, pierced cock covering the balance, blued steel endplate. The clock commands the striking, serinette and singing bird functions automatically on the hour and half-hour. The serinette: Comprises a going train, fusee and chain transmission, the wheel train terminates to an endless screw on a fly wheel, the 2 wings of which are adjustable. This wheel train drives the bellows and the brass cylinder, 55 x 130 mm, the pins activating 10 levers that command the opening of 10 pewter pipes seven different tunes may be manually selected, by means of a wheel on one of the sides. A silent pull-stop is located on one of the sides. A pull cord commands the serinette and bird at will. The winding hole for the serinette is located on one of the sides. The bird: With blue, black and white plumage, pivoting, with moving beak and tail. The bird's functions are programmed by a particular portion of the serinette's cylinder which engages several small levers; the bird's rotation is driven by a rod connected to the going train. Dim. 50 x 28 cm.
| Grading System | |
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Grade: |
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Case: 3.6 |
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Movement: 3** |
Good Repair required, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-57-01 |
Good Original later bezel HANDS Original |
Notes
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 example. At first, the bird's song was provided by a serinette mechanism, as is the case here; later, the Jaquet-Droz were to invent the whistle with sliding piston, which allowed a much greater miniaturization 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 have devoted himself to his work as a watchmaker with all the more intensity. Henry-Louis, the second child of Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his wife Marianne, was born on October 13, 1752. Recognizing that he was a gifted child, his father sent him to Nancy to study music, science, mathematics, physics and drawing. In 1758, Jaquet-Droz made the long and difficult journey to Spain, to present his works to King Ferdinand VI. When he returned, the sum he brought back enabled him to devote himself to the making of the famous Jaquet-Droz automata, the writer, draughtsman, and musician, and to found the successful Jaquet-Droz firm, in London and Geneva, for the making of extraordinary mechanical and musical pieces. Upon his return in 1769, Henry-Louis took his place in his father's work-shop alongside Jean-Frederic Leschot (1746-1824), an adoptive son. This was the beginning of a close and fruitful partnership between the three men. Pierre Jaquet-Droz was the first to make singing bird boxes and enjoyed an excellent reputation for compli-cated clocks, Neuchâtel clocks and automaton timepieces. When Pierre Jaquet-Droz grew old, the firm was taken over by his son Henry-Louis and Jean Frédéric Leschot, under the name of Jaquet-Droz & Leschot. Pierre Jaquet-Droz died in Biel in 1790, at the age of 69. Upon his father's retirement from the family firm, Henry-Louis naturally replaced him, traveling to London to look after business. He also maintained an active interest in the Société des Arts, studying questions related to the well-being of the Genevese "Fabrique" and seeking solutions to problems which plagued his colleagues and fellow members. Henry-Louis' health was poor, however. Despite a journey undertaken to improve his condition, he died in Naples in November 1791, at the early age of 41. Subsequently, Jean Frédéric Leschot took over the firm.