Birdcage Clock With Music Box and Automaton
Geneva circa 1825/30 The dial with the seller's signature Bautte & Moynier (a firm which was active from 1824-1831). The movement attributed to the Atelier Courvoisier et Cie in La Chaux-de-Fonds (active from 1811-1845), the music box signed C.F. Nardin (1806-1823), the bird automaton probably by Jean-David Maillardet (1748-1834). Bronze, finely chased and gilt. Designed as a rectangular bird cage with fine latticework and a dome-shaped openwork top decorated with a vase. The cage is closed at the bottom and on paw feet. The bottom contains an automaton with two small birds turning, flapping their wings and hopping from one branch to the other. In the center, a "water column" with spinning glass rods, on top of which is a butterfly, also flapping its wings. Birds chirping via bellows on a whistle with a metal piston. On a rectangular base with slightly protruding frame and leaf frieze, on round feet. Decorated all around with fleurons, vase motifs and medallions. Recessed machine-turned, silvered dial with Roman hour numerals. In the lower base, a music box with a drum, playing three changing melodies.. Repeater function. Plays on demand. Movement with balance wheel, the music box plays on the hour. Such birdcage automatons were often created as a collaboration of various specialized watchmakers and automaton makers from Neuchâtel and the Jura. They are witnesses of great skill and enjoyed great popularity in the period between 1780 and 1840. Among the most important watchmaking dynasties are the Robert, Jaquet-Droz, Frédéric Leschot, Maillardet, Fochat and Bruguier families. Others, such as François Nicole and Charles-Frédéric Nardin, specialized in the making of music boxes. The luxury objects resulting from this collaboration were often sold to the European aristocracy as well as to China, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire through Geneva-based makers and sellers, such as Jean-François Bautte (1772-1837), who signed the clock on offer. The founding of Bautte & Moynier dates back to 1791, when case maker Jean-François Bautte joined forces with watchmaker Dauphin Moulinié. The company was expanded in 1804 when watchmaker Jean-Gabriel Moynier joined, and thereafter operated as Moulinié, Bautte & Moynier, fabrique d'horlogerie. The luxury company employed about 60 workers and produced watches as well as jewelry of the highest quality. Bautte became one of the most important watch dealers in Geneva. After the departure of Moulinié around 1824, the name was changed to Bautte & Moynier. (Koller) A significant improvement in the sound of the birds was brought about by the principle of the metal piston whistle, which can be traced back to Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790). Here, the bird's song is generated by a single whistle, with a controllable air valve and a sliding piston inside the whistle allowing very realistic chirping sounds and bird calls. (Koller) The automaton with two singing and hopping canaries can be attributed to the clock and automaton maker Jean-David Maillardet (1748-1834), who worked in La Chaux-de-Fonds. A comparable birdcage automaton with a hopping bird and fountain, also attributed to Maillardet, is illustrated at: Régis Huguenin, Jean-Michel Piguet. La Neuchâteloise. Histoire et technigue de la pendule neuchâteloise, XVIIIe-XXIe siècle. Neuchâtel 2017. p. 51. (Koller) The birdcage automaton on offer was probably in the private collection of Guido Reuge. In 1886, Albert Reuge opened a workshop for music boxes. The company had enormous success and its mechanisms were found in a number of products such as powder compacts and lighters. Until 1930, Guido Reuge expanded the REUGE company and led the company for over 60 years. Much of the collection of music automatons assembled by Guido Reuge and his wife Jacqueline Reuge is now housed in the Reuge Museum in Kyoto, Japan. (Koller) Provenance: Literature: Reinhard Meis. The Old Clock. Vol. 1. Brunswick 1978. p. 192, fig. 290. With illustration probably of this birdcage clock, at that time at the auction house Ineichen, Zurich. Koller Auctions
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