No Maker's mark,
T T C Z C I M D
Playing ten airs including "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss and "Cancan" from the operetta "Orpheus in the Underworld" by Jacques Offenbach, with 72 teeth in the musical and 20 teeth in the percussion combs (all complete) accompanied by drum, six engine-turned saucer bells and castanet, with manuscript tune sheet, double-spring motor, tune-indicator, tune-selector and adjustable speed control, in crossbanded veneered case with marquetry lid motif of an anthropomorphic monkey as showman with magic lantern and barrel organ, wd. 30 in. (76 cm), cylinder 16 ¼ in. (41 cm), two bells in need of adjustment, otherwise in good restored and playing condition. (Breker)
The motif on the lid is based on a plate ("La Lanterne Magique") from "Singeries ou différentes actions de la Vie Humaine representées par des Singes dediées au public" by the artist Christophe Huet and the engraver Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Guelard. Jacqueau the showman’s monkey, who entertains an audience of farmyard animals with a magic lantern while his master is away, is the subject of a fable by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian.
Provenance: Christie’s South Kensington, 25 May 2004, Lot 701.
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