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Hotel Nogalhilton Geneve, Nov 11, 2001

LOT 11

Timekeeper with 5 ComplicationsAttributed to Jaquet-Droz, Geneva, circa 1780.Extremely rare and very fine gilt brass and enamel, two singing bird hanging cage with a center-seconds clock beneath, 12-stream fountain, playing four tunes on demand or changing automatically on the hour.

CHF 250,000 - 300,000

USD 150,000 - 190,000

Sold: CHF 333,500

C. Gilt brass cage, square base with canted corners, each side with a finely painted on enamel medallions with flower vase, bay-leaf ormolu frame with applied ormolu flower stems, light brown background, one medallion hinged for the winding aperture, panel to the right with activating pull cord and lever for singing/silent change, canted corners with gilt brass vase with flowers and loose hanging straight handles, center architectural fence panels with tops pierced and engraved with flowers andtylized foliage, gilt wire top centered by gilt flower bud with hinged ring loop. Inside in the center an animated fountain with 12 twisted glass streams stemming from a gilt decorated bowl with floral capital, flanked by two nightingales sitting on both sides of gilt bar, each turning around, with animated wings, beak and tail. Base fitted with the dial, reeded bezel, foliate decoration in the corners around the ball and paw feet. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions wth five-minute/seconds Arabic markers, subsidiary regulating dial. Gilt brass "fleur-de-lis" hands.Singing bird movement: brass, two tier, fusee and chain, large barrel for long duration, four-arm fly governor with worm and wheel transmission driving pinned cylinder with 16 levers, 12 for same number of pipes, 4 for bellows and birds animations, birds playing in duets, singing changes automatically.Clock movement: brass, rectangular full plate with cylindrical pillars secured by pins, going barrel, verge escapement, plain three-arm brass balance with blued steel balance spring, two-footed skeletonized cock with four spokes, rack and pinion regulator.Dim. Height 52 cm, width 28 cm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 01

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 sog In this case, the birds sing a duo of popular tunes of the period.This cage is illustrated in "Flights of Fancy" by Christian and Sharon Bailly, Antiquorum Editions, 2001, p. 92-93.Jaquet-Droz, Pierre (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 hitrip 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.The second child of Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his wife Marianne, Henry-Louis, 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 workshop alongside Jean-Frederic Leschot (1746-1824), an adoptive son. It 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 complicated 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 theame 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.