Important Watches, Collector's Wristw...

The Ritz-carlton Hotel, Jun 06, 2004

LOT 227

Helen and Paris Frères Rochat, Geneva, No. 56, box by Georges Reymond, tune from Mozart?s Marriage of Figaro, Geneva, made for the Chinese market circa 1815. Magnificent and rare 18K gold and painted on enamel, pearl-set musical singing bird box with center-seconds, quarter-repeating watch.

HKD 700,000 - 900,000

EUR 75,000 - 97,000 / USD 90,000 - 115,000

Sold: HKD 1,010,000

C. Four-body, rectangular with rounded corners, predominately in translucent scarlet enamel over ?basket? engine-turning, the borders with champlevé black, blue and white floral decoration. The top panel with oval medallion concealing the bird very finely painted on enamel with Helen and Paris within half-pearl-set frame. When the bird cover is opened, the bird rises and begins to move and the song starts, being activated by a slide in the edge of the case. The articulated bird sings, rotates, turns its head, opens its beak, flaps its wings and moves its tail. D. White enamel, Roman numerals with minute and seconds dot divisions. Blued-steel ?spearhead? hands. M. 16 x 65 mm, rectangular, brass, going barrel, cylinder escapement with brass escape wheel, gold three-arm balance, blued-steel flat balance spring, repeating on two rectangular-shaped straight gongs via a gold bolt at the base of the box.The singing bird movement: Small rectangular brass, fusee and chain, eight cams and a whistle with sliding piston for the song's modulation. The cams rotate four times per song and lift one step every rotation, allowing a long duration of singing, the multi-colored feathered bird with moving wings, beak, tail, and turning head rotates on its axis. It is reflected on the inside of the medallion which is mirror-polished and concave, enlarging the bird in its reflection. Cam-controlled rising of the bird medallion and the bird, with five-wheel train terminated with a pinion in eccentric adjustable bushing to regulate the speed of the opening and closing. This complicated mechanism allows for precision control of the order and speed of the bird rising and the medallion opening. Musical movement. Pin barrel playing with two stacks of eight tuned teeth each, with grasshopper-shaped vibratingtuned blades.Stamped '?FR? in oval and numbered on the movement.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 3

Good
Dial: 2 - 01

Notes

Provenance:Lord Sandberg Collection (see Antiquorum April 1, 2001, No. 413.), Important North American Collector. This is one of the most complicated and spectacular Rochat singing bird boxes. The box, which is preserved in remarkably good condition, has a bird which not only sings but sings a particular melody ? from Mozart?s the Marriage of Figaro. It has four distinct mechanisms: a singing bird, a watch, a special quarter-repeating mechanism with large gongs, and a musical movement with special grasshopper-type vibrating blades for assuring deeper and longer-lasting sound. In the 17th century it was discovered that canaries brought by the Spaniards from the Canary Islands were able to sing beautifully. Soon they were taught to sing particular songs. By 1709, Hervieux de Chanteloup (quoted in ?Flights of Fancy? by Sharon and Christian Bailly), had devoted an extremely detailed chapter to the subject of teaching canaries to sing: ?You must remove it to a room far from all the other birds, so that it never hears the song of any other bird, and after you will play on a small Flageollet, whose tone is not too high. For if your Flageollet is too high, your Canary will unfailingly sing it in the same key, & repeating it several times a day, will dry out its lungs so severely that it will soon wither away and die.? A further dilemma presented itself: which music to choose? ?Concerning the tunes, one need only teach it a beautiful prelude and aria; if it learns more pieces, it will only mix them up? five or six lessons a day suffice to instruct a Canary if he has any disposition to learn.? Eventually, the fashion for canaries led to the creation of mechanical instruments to help teach birds to sing. Their evolution, in turn, lead to the creation of spectacular small singing bird boxes. They were created to be the most magnificent objects of desire for those that could afford them. The present box represents the apogee of the art ? one hears the bird singing its own tune, and subsequently a beautiful melody from Mozart?s Marriage of Figaro. In addition, it is in remarkably good condition both from the decorative and the mechanical aspects. Georges Reymond active from 1783 to 1815-20. Became Master goldsmith on 22 December 1783 and struck his first Master mark. Seven years later he appears to have formed a company: Georges Rémond & Cie., which eventually became, circa 1800, Rémond, Mercier, Lamy & Cie. During the French occupation of Switzerland by Napoléon, J.-G. Rémond recorded marks which were in accordance with the laws of the newly formed Département of Léman, i.e. his initials within a lozenge. From 1815 to 1820, the firm Lamy, Rémond, Mercier, Daniel Berton, used a similar mark, but no longer enclosed within a lozenge. It seems that Rémond retired or died during this partnership, since in 1820 a new firm of Mercier, Blondel and Berton was formed. However this new company only lasted a further seven years, until 14 April 1827. For the same scene and a note on Helen and Paris see lot 222 We would like to thank Dr. Leon Botstein for his help in identifying the notes of the bird singing.