Singing Bird Box
Maker
Charles Bruguier
(Swiss)
Datec. 1850
MediumGilt silver, enamel, feathers
Dimensions95.3 x 60.3 x 31.8 mm
ClassificationsRECREATIONAL ARTIFACTS
Credit LineProctor Collection, Frederick T. Proctor Watch Collection
Terms
Object numberPC. 1023.40
DescriptionEnamelled silver gilt singing birdboxShaped oblong, the sides and base engine turned and engraved with leaves and flowers, the lid enhanced with floral enamel spandrels enclosing oval lid painted with Alpine scenery
Case: Shaped oblong, the sides and base engine turned and engraved with leaves and flowers, the lid enhanced with floral enamel spandrels enclosing oval lid painted with Apline scenery.
On View
On viewCollections
CopyrightThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit the link on the Rights and Reproductions page.
Label TextApplying music-box technology developed by Augsburg, Germany, clockmakers a century earlier, a notable mid-eighteenth-century artisan, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, and his partner, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, developed realistic, mechanized birds that were used to decorate elegant snuffboxes. The manufacture of these boxes required the collaborative effort of artists, enamelers, technicians, goldsmiths, and watchmakers. Like automata made for an Eastern clientele, singing-bird boxes captivated an eager market in China, Turkey, and India and remained popular until the end of the nineteenth century.
ATD
