96th Auction
2017/11/18
Lot 133
Frères Rochat, Geneva / stamped "MB&C" ("Moulinié, Bautte & Cie"), Movement No. 98, 96 x 71 x 31 mm, 508 g, circa 1800
An important gold enamel singing bird box with integrated watch in museum quality "Tom and his Pigeons", engraved by Charles Knight after John Russell's painting of 1792
Case: 18k gold and enamel, half pearls. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance. Singing bird movement: rectangular brass movement, chain/fusee, bellows, punch marks: 3 tulips and no. 98 for Frères Rochat.
A rectangular, heavy box with canted corners; all sides are decorated with horizontal wave pattern engine-turning with diagonal branches and translucent cobalt blue enamelling with vertical winding, opaque black lines. The top part is studded with half pearls and a central oval enamel medallion conceals the singing bird mechanism and the bird itself with its colourful plumage. The bird moves its head, the wings and his beak and tail against an open-worked and engraved concave gold plate that mirrors and enlarges the bird. The medallion is framed by a row of half-pearls and painted with an exquisite polychrome scene, showing a little boy protecting his pigeons from a cat. The scene is based on a painting by English artist John Russell (1745-1806) and was engraved and published by English engraver Charles Parsons Knight (1743–1828) in 1792.
The side edges and the canted corners are decorated with taille d'épargne flowers on light blue and black ground. The integrated watch with a half-pearl-studded bezel sits on the front of the box, the back has a hinged compartment for the key.
Sotheby’s sold a very similar oval gold and enamel pair of boxes with singing birds on July 6, 2011 for GBP 735,650. The case was made by Guidon, Rémond, Gide & Co. of Geneva, the movements used were produced by Jaquet-Droz and Leschot, London.
Frères Rochat
The Rochat Brothers, Ami Napoleon and Louis worked in 140, rue de Coutance, between 1810 and 1835. They were trained by their father, Pierre Rochat, in the family workshop at a place called Chez Meilland au Brassus, in the Vallee de Joux lake region, Switzerland. At the beginning they worked for Jaquet-Droz and Leschot. After having lost their fortune in building speculations, they came to Geneva in 1815 and prospered again by making most curious marvels of small mechanics, which were highly appreciated by connoisseurs and sold to the principal courts of Europe. Ami Napoleon Rochat, the eldest son, made a speciality of the singing bird boxes which established the reputation of the name Rochat all over the world. The work was absolutely perfect, namely the singing, the extreme complication and smallness of the mechanism, the bird opening its beak and turning its head when singing.
Moulinié, Bautte & Cie were specialized in fine pocket watches and objects de vertu, including a series of vinaigrettes with enamelled landscape scenes depicting Swiss cities such as Geneva, Chamonix or Baden.
Jean-François Bautte was born in 1772 in Geneva. He trained in the different trades of being a case fitter, engraver, watchmaker, jeweller, and goldsmith. On August 1, 1793, he joined forces with Jacques-Dauphin Moulinié (1761–1838), under the corporate name Moulinié & Bautte, case fitters. On October 1, 1804, with the arrival of Jean-Gabriel Moynier, the firm became Moulinié, Bautte & Cie, seller of watch making-jewellery making. It was then that Jean-François Bautte developed his own manufacture in Geneva that brought together under the same roof all the bodies of trades of watch making from that time. He died on November 30, 1837.
Source: en.wikipedia.org.
An important gold enamel singing bird box with integrated watch in museum quality "Tom and his Pigeons", engraved by Charles Knight after John Russell's painting of 1792
Case: 18k gold and enamel, half pearls. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance. Singing bird movement: rectangular brass movement, chain/fusee, bellows, punch marks: 3 tulips and no. 98 for Frères Rochat.
A rectangular, heavy box with canted corners; all sides are decorated with horizontal wave pattern engine-turning with diagonal branches and translucent cobalt blue enamelling with vertical winding, opaque black lines. The top part is studded with half pearls and a central oval enamel medallion conceals the singing bird mechanism and the bird itself with its colourful plumage. The bird moves its head, the wings and his beak and tail against an open-worked and engraved concave gold plate that mirrors and enlarges the bird. The medallion is framed by a row of half-pearls and painted with an exquisite polychrome scene, showing a little boy protecting his pigeons from a cat. The scene is based on a painting by English artist John Russell (1745-1806) and was engraved and published by English engraver Charles Parsons Knight (1743–1828) in 1792.
The side edges and the canted corners are decorated with taille d'épargne flowers on light blue and black ground. The integrated watch with a half-pearl-studded bezel sits on the front of the box, the back has a hinged compartment for the key.
Sotheby’s sold a very similar oval gold and enamel pair of boxes with singing birds on July 6, 2011 for GBP 735,650. The case was made by Guidon, Rémond, Gide & Co. of Geneva, the movements used were produced by Jaquet-Droz and Leschot, London.
Frères Rochat
The Rochat Brothers, Ami Napoleon and Louis worked in 140, rue de Coutance, between 1810 and 1835. They were trained by their father, Pierre Rochat, in the family workshop at a place called Chez Meilland au Brassus, in the Vallee de Joux lake region, Switzerland. At the beginning they worked for Jaquet-Droz and Leschot. After having lost their fortune in building speculations, they came to Geneva in 1815 and prospered again by making most curious marvels of small mechanics, which were highly appreciated by connoisseurs and sold to the principal courts of Europe. Ami Napoleon Rochat, the eldest son, made a speciality of the singing bird boxes which established the reputation of the name Rochat all over the world. The work was absolutely perfect, namely the singing, the extreme complication and smallness of the mechanism, the bird opening its beak and turning its head when singing.
Moulinié, Bautte & Cie were specialized in fine pocket watches and objects de vertu, including a series of vinaigrettes with enamelled landscape scenes depicting Swiss cities such as Geneva, Chamonix or Baden.
Jean-François Bautte was born in 1772 in Geneva. He trained in the different trades of being a case fitter, engraver, watchmaker, jeweller, and goldsmith. On August 1, 1793, he joined forces with Jacques-Dauphin Moulinié (1761–1838), under the corporate name Moulinié & Bautte, case fitters. On October 1, 1804, with the arrival of Jean-Gabriel Moynier, the firm became Moulinié, Bautte & Cie, seller of watch making-jewellery making. It was then that Jean-François Bautte developed his own manufacture in Geneva that brought together under the same roof all the bodies of trades of watch making from that time. He died on November 30, 1837.
Source: en.wikipedia.org.
estimated
200.000—350.000 €
Price realized
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