Singing Bird Boxes. A singing bird box (boîte à oiseau chanteur in French) is a box, usually rectangular-shaped, which contains within a miniature automaton singing bird concealed below an oval lid and activated by means of an operating lever.
Its origins are found in the city of Geneva and its invention in 1784/85 is attributed to Pierre Jaquet-Droz.
The French term tabatière has also come to be used for any small decorative box resembling a snuffbox in form but not necessarily any longer used to contain snuff. Reference: Wikipedia
UNSIGNED | A CONTINENTAL SILVER GILT SINGING BIRD BOX, CIRCA 1930
Case: Overall decorated with foliate C-scroll ornament, hinged lid concealing the singing bird
Dimension: 40mm (height) x 100mm (width) x 64mm (length)
Accompaniments: Presentation box and winding key
Sold for HK$15,300 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2022
RETAILED BY PATEK PHILIPPE. A VERY FINE AND RARE TORTOISESHELL, GILT AND ENAMEL SINGING BIRD BOX WITH ORIGINAL BOX AND OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES ABRAHAM BRUGUIER THE YOUNGER, FITTED BOX SIGNED PATEK PHILIPPE & CO., GENÈVE, CIRCA 1880
Movement: Rectangular full-plate, chain fusée, bellows, going barrel, the lid opening for the rotating multicoloured singing bird with flapping wings, turning head and opening beak
Case: The back with hinged key compartment, the bird cover enamelled with a bouquet of flowers and two birds on a translucent ground, diam. 96 x 64 x 32 mm
With: Original Patek Philippe fitted case, instruction sheet and key
Sold for HKD 819,000 at Christie’s in 2022
Reuge Gilt-Metal and Enamel Singing Bird Box
Width 4 5/8 inches.
Sold for $1,250 (includes buyer’s premium) at Doyle in 2020
German Karl Griesbaum music box with a singing bird automaton. The sides and top of the brass box are elaborately decorated with scrolling filigree. The bird is naturalistically rendered in yellow and black. Impressed mark along the underside Ken-D as well as “Made in Germany.”
Bird sings for approximately 15 seconds when fully wound. With three keys for winding the box.
Height: 1 3/4 in x width: 4 1/4 in x depth: 2 3/4 in.
Sold for US$1,500 at Revere Auctions in 2022
A jewelled gold and enamel singing bird box, Rémond, Lamy, Mercier & Co, Geneva, circa 1815, rectangular with rounded corners, all sides with wavy engine-turning within a border of gold scrollwork and midnight blue taille d’épargne ovals and lozenges, the lid centred with an octagonal plaque chased with a musical trophy including a turquoise-set harp, a mandolin, a trumpet and a ewer on a sablé ground, in a frame of turquoise cabochons, opening to reveal a singing bird with a small ivory beak, flapping its hummingbird-feathered wings, its support mounted on a plaque engraved with the silhouette of a bird and with scalloped edges, the inner cover engine-turned, key compartment, maker’s mark, unofficial Geneva third standard mark, with associated key and another spare one, in a silk-lined tooled leather case, circa 1830 and cardboard box stamped for: Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company / 112 Regent Steet, London W.
7.8cm., 3¼in. wide
Sold for 50,400 GBP at Sotheby’s in 2022
