100th Auction
2019/11/15
Lot 51
Jacques Bruguier à Genève, 940 x 630 x 30 mm, 313 g, circa 1870
An important and remarkable singing bird box with original winding key
Case: tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, inlaid with a fine engraved three-coloured gold floral decoration, gold enamel. Automaton mechanism: rectangular, full-plate, chain/fusee, going barrel, rectangular bellows.
The body of the automaton is made of dark brown tortoise shell. All visible sides are elaborately ornamented with red, yellow and white gold floral marquetry and alternating, delicate little mother of pearl and gold-coloured dots around the edges. When the movement is wound and the slider for the automaton is pushed to the right, the gold cover - exquisitely painted with a Swiss mountainscape with a waterfall and a farm building - opens to reveal a rotating bird rising from a gilt lattice floor with a central plaque bearing the signature of Jacques Bruguier – the chirping bird flutters its wings, turns its head and opens its beak. The bird’s multi-coloured feathers dazzle the onlooker with bright red, sea-blue and emerald green hues with fine iridescent highlights. The inside of the gold lid is decorated with light blue enamel and painted with a colourful bouquet of flowers.
The tortoise shell case provides a particularly beautiful, resonant sound. The back plate holds a folding compartment for the original key – this is an extremely rare singing bird automaton of supreme quality.
Jacques Bruguier (1801-1873) married Jacqueline, the daughter of renowned singing bird box maker Charles Abraham Bruguier, on January 13, 1853 and had his workshop at the Rue des Pâquis in Geneva. One can assume from the identical names that the two families were related, but this is not known for certain. Jacques Bruguiers parents were clockmaker Jean-Abraham Bruguier and his wife Rose Lamon and he was born in June 1801 in Geneva, which was French territory at the time - the city had just been annexed by the new French Republic. Jean-Abraham took his family to the Ardèche region of France, but Jacques later returned to Geneva. He began working as a mechanic for Charles-Abraham Bruguier and was living with him at Grand Pré by 1852; at the time his future wife Jacqueline was also working for her father, pinning music box cylinders. By the time Jacques and Jacqueline married, Jacques was already over 50 years old and Jacqueline was close to 40. Nevertheless the couple had two children, Jacques Alexandre and Abrahamine Charlotte Françoise. Jacques and Jacqueline Bruguier lived at Place de la Madeleine 166 from 1853 to 1861. Jacques Bruguier moved to 14, Rue du Cendrier in 1867. He died on October 7, 1873.
Source: "Flights of Fancy" by Sharon and Christian Bailly, Antiquorum Editions, 2001, p. 280
An important and remarkable singing bird box with original winding key
Case: tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, inlaid with a fine engraved three-coloured gold floral decoration, gold enamel. Automaton mechanism: rectangular, full-plate, chain/fusee, going barrel, rectangular bellows.
The body of the automaton is made of dark brown tortoise shell. All visible sides are elaborately ornamented with red, yellow and white gold floral marquetry and alternating, delicate little mother of pearl and gold-coloured dots around the edges. When the movement is wound and the slider for the automaton is pushed to the right, the gold cover - exquisitely painted with a Swiss mountainscape with a waterfall and a farm building - opens to reveal a rotating bird rising from a gilt lattice floor with a central plaque bearing the signature of Jacques Bruguier – the chirping bird flutters its wings, turns its head and opens its beak. The bird’s multi-coloured feathers dazzle the onlooker with bright red, sea-blue and emerald green hues with fine iridescent highlights. The inside of the gold lid is decorated with light blue enamel and painted with a colourful bouquet of flowers.
The tortoise shell case provides a particularly beautiful, resonant sound. The back plate holds a folding compartment for the original key – this is an extremely rare singing bird automaton of supreme quality.
Jacques Bruguier (1801-1873) married Jacqueline, the daughter of renowned singing bird box maker Charles Abraham Bruguier, on January 13, 1853 and had his workshop at the Rue des Pâquis in Geneva. One can assume from the identical names that the two families were related, but this is not known for certain. Jacques Bruguiers parents were clockmaker Jean-Abraham Bruguier and his wife Rose Lamon and he was born in June 1801 in Geneva, which was French territory at the time - the city had just been annexed by the new French Republic. Jean-Abraham took his family to the Ardèche region of France, but Jacques later returned to Geneva. He began working as a mechanic for Charles-Abraham Bruguier and was living with him at Grand Pré by 1852; at the time his future wife Jacqueline was also working for her father, pinning music box cylinders. By the time Jacques and Jacqueline married, Jacques was already over 50 years old and Jacqueline was close to 40. Nevertheless the couple had two children, Jacques Alexandre and Abrahamine Charlotte Françoise. Jacques and Jacqueline Bruguier lived at Place de la Madeleine 166 from 1853 to 1861. Jacques Bruguier moved to 14, Rue du Cendrier in 1867. He died on October 7, 1873.
Source: "Flights of Fancy" by Sharon and Christian Bailly, Antiquorum Editions, 2001, p. 280
estimated
30.000—40.000 €
Price realized
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