Previously sold by Sotheby's, Geneva, May 14, 1987, lot 144. This is the only known snuffbox with French-made automata. Based on the research presented below, we now believe that there are some other French-made automaton snuffboxes. However, this is the only one known to date to have survived. Its rarity was reflected in the 1987 price of over 400,000 SF, paid for it at Sotheby's. 18th century automated snuffboxes are rare in general, the best-known are: 1. Seascape, attributed to Geneva, c. 1780, Sandoz Collection 2. Tightrope Dancer, Geneva, c. 1785 in the Gilbert Collection. 3. Blacksmith's Workshop, Geneva c. 1790, Berry-Hill Collection 4. Knife Grinder, Geneva, c. 1780, Landesmuseum, Seewen. 5. Dancer, Swiss, c. 1800, sold Sotheby's London, Nov. 9, 2000, for £641.500. 6. The present box. Nicolas-Constant Lemaire, or Le Maire, as he engraved on this box, learned watchmaking in Paris , but perfected his art by working for the famous automata maker Jaquet-Droz. He quickly showed a great talent. Maillardet, Jaquet-Droz's London associate, wrote to Leschot around 1793: ?Le Maire left about 3 weeks ago, saying he was going to Geneva. You will have a great rival?.? Leschot learned about Lemaire's talent first hand: Lemaire, when in Geneva, paid him a visit. In a letter to Frisard, Leschot, in a patronizing tone, wrote: ?I forgot to tell you, in speaking of Lemaire ? that he has come to see me since his arrival here, and that he gave me proof of being a good copier, for he showed me a little bird, exceptionally well executed, which moves in all directions on a stick, like our large ones?.? ?Exceptionally well executed?, he wrote - Lemaire must have been not just good, he was exceptionally good. No wonder he went on his own. On September 25, 1793, Leschot wrote the following to Henry Maillardet, for he suspected Lemaire of representing rival merchants: ?I open my letter again to tell you, dear friend, that I have just this instant heard that Mr. Maire, your former workman, has arrived in Geneva. Please tell me in response, as quickly as possible, in case he desired to commission certain pieces, such as little birds to dress, etc., if I may be assured these birds are commissions for you. If this were the case, I would have them feathered with pleasure, after my own. But if these birds, etc. are intended for other people, I am determined not to touch them?? This letter implies clearly that Lemaire went on his own and was capable of manufacturing complicated singing bird movements. This letter, along with the one cited below puts in doubt if the famous singing bird watch signed Breguet (now in Patek Philippe Museum) is not a cooperation between Lemaire and Breguet. In a letter of January 16, 1796 Leschot wrote to Frisard: ? I received a letter from Mr. Giroux of Paris, engraver, who wanted to give me the commission of Mr. Rossel of Paris for the mechanism of a box for which he enclosed a sketch... I thought it best to give you a copy of all this so that you will be ... forwarned .... I hope that you will respond as I did...it is fitting that you and I ... be cautious concerning any outside invitation ... I mistrust Maire, Breguet, and certain others?? The letter clearly acknowledges the fear of competition from Lemaire, and, interestingly, joins Lemaire and Breguet. That the two worked together we know from Breguet records. Lemaire was one of his clock ebauche suppliers including the famous Pendules Pyramidales. The fact that Breguet himself cooperated with Lemaire leaves little doubt as to the talent and capabilities of the man. Lemaire proposed to the French Commission d'Agriculture et des Arts an establishment of a manufacture in which he would make ?automated clocks, singing bird boxes, ring watches, repeating and equation watches. ? Along with Glaezner, he was elected in 1796 as a director of the Manufacture de Versailles, an entity manufacturing high quality timepieces and possibly automata. At the Paris Exposition of 1798 (An VI) Lemaire exhibited, among other things, a box with a carillon (whereabouts unknown). The present box is the only one by Lemaire known to have survived, making it extremely important for the history of French horology and automata.