Lot 95

Charles Abraham Bruguier / Frères Rochat à Genève, 94 x 60 x 37 mm, circa 1855
A very fine and extremely rare enamel singing bird box
Case: silver, gilt, rectangular box with lobed corners, all-over very finely engraved with flowers and garlands of roses, on the front side a slide to reveal the bird automaton, opaque polychrome enamelled upper part with summer flowers against a white background, in the centre an oval multi-coloured lid picturing Geneva and Lake Geneva and the Salève mountain in the background, an earth road with figures in the foreground, its interior with an opaque multi-coloured flower bouquet. Automaton mechanism by Frères Rochat: rectangular, full-plate, rounded pillars, punch mark Frères Rochat, chain/fusee, bellows, bird with moving head, wings, beak and tail in front of a pierced and engraved gold plate.
During our 83rd auction we presented a nearly identical enamel singing bird box as lot no. 280.
This box, however, is in a much better overall condition; it has perfectly preserved gilding and its engraving is much finer than that of the previous box. The exquisite miniature painting is breathtaking and the musical mechanism is in perfect working order.

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