Important Watches, Collector's Wrist...

Hong Kong, Jun 08, 2001

LOT 501

?Oiseau de bonheur?Henry Borell, London, produced in Geneva by Jaquet-Droz, the mechanism by Jacob Frisard, made for the Chinese Market, circa 1790.Very fine and extremely rare 18K gold and enamel, pearl-set oval singing bird box.

HKD 780,000 - 900,000

USD 100,000 - 120,000

Sold: HKD 900,000

C. Three body, blue engine turned enamelled lid and side panels over black painted foliate pattern, base and side panels with further paillon decoration and champlevé enamelled borders, the lid with split-pearl set border. Singing bird aperture with split-pearl set bezel. The cover of the box painted with a modern version of farewells of Hector, with an officer saying good-by to his wife and daughter, both with very sad and concerned expressions on their faces, the daughter with a handkerchief iher hand to wave when the father will go riding away, country setting in the background. M. Oval 84 x 53 mm, turned pillars, fusee with chain, circular bellow, the bird with moving wings, tail and beak, controlled by a stack of eight cams, bar-type regulator driven from a worm-gear with a safety clutch. Inner gilt protection grill, pierced and engraved with foliage.Signed on the protection grill.Dim. 90 x 60 x 36 mm.


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Grading System
Case: 3 - 17
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Notes

An almost identical singing bird box, previously in the M. H. Plisson Collection, in Paris is described by A. Chapuis andE. Gélis in Le Monde des Automates, Paris 1928, Vol. II, p. 113-114, fig. 389, and three others, very similar, Fig. 190, 191 and 192.Drawn from the archives of J. F. Leschot, A. Chapuis and E. Gélis give p. 108 the following information concerning this type of singing birds: they were always made of 18K gold of which the weight, without the enamel, pearls and mountings, was of about 5 1/2 ounces (170 gr). Their price, in gold and enamel, set with split-pearls, was of 130 French gold Louis. The mechanism was produced by Frisard and was paid 50 Louis in 1793.This piece is published in ?Flights of Fancy?, by Christian and Sharon Bailly, 2001, p.150.