Frères Rochat à Genève, 91 x 60 x 31 mm, circa 1840

A highly decorative Swiss singing bird box
Case: silver, partly gilt, rectangular box with lobed corners, entirely very finely engraved with flowers and garlands of roses, partly gilt, on all sides decorated with engine-turned, translucent cobalt blue foliate scrolls, on the front side a slide to reveal the bird automaton, the upper part with punched foliate scrolls and flowers in Repoussé technique, in the centre an oval lid multi-coloured painted with an Alpine view, a chalet in the foreground, its interior with an opaque multi-coloured flower bouquet, security clasp. Automaton mechanism: rectangular, full-plate, chain/fusee, bellows, bird with moving head, wings, beak and tail in front of a pierced and engraved gold plate.