Only Online Auction
Hong Kong, Mar 03, 2021
LOT 121
Attributable to Karl Griesbaum
Singing-bird box; silver, gilded silver and enamel
HKD 37,600 - 76,000
CHF 4,400 - 8,700 / EUR 4,000 - 8,000 / USD 4,900 - 9,700
Sold: HKD 47,500
Silver (sterling) and enamel, key-winding, horizontal-shaped, singing-bird box.
Rectangular box painted on enamel on silver showing a shepherd and shepherdess near a lake; on the front, a miniature representing the castle of Chillon on the shores of Lake Geneva. Oval-shaped cover painted on enamel on silver showing a fountain with two cherubs.
Movement rectangular (~ 90 x 55 mm.), brass, going barrel, bellows and cams; the revolving bird with moving wings, beak and tail, controlled by two cams mounted beneath the barrel wheel.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AA |
Very good |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3 * |
Brand Karl Griesbaum, Triberg (Black Forest)
Year circa 1930
Movement No. unnumbered
Case No. unnumbered (by “HK”)
Material silver, gilded silver and enamel
Length 47 mm.
Caliber rectangular (~ 90 x 55 mm.)
Height 63 mm.
Width 100 mm.
Notes
Griesbaum, Karl (1872-1941)
The firm Griesbaum was founded in 1905 in Germany, in the Black Forest, in Triberg (Baden-Wurttemberg), by Karl Griesbaum (1872-1941). He is the son of Mathias Griesbaum, a clockmaker. He began working as a micro-mechanic in the basement of his home. He has five children who will work with him: Mathias (1902-1974), Amalia, Helena, Caroline and Karl Joseph (b.1916). Mathias studied clockmaking in Fürtwangen, pursued commercial studies in Karlsruhe, as well as in Switzerland. The most typical items of the Griesbaum House are probably their snuff-boxes with a singing bird, particularly those made in a style reminiscent of the traditional German silversmiths of earlier centuries, but also their boxes with two singing birds and those serving as boxes for cigarettes.