Automaton Makers Archives - Antique Automatons

Antoine Rojard

Antique Automatons — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 16:30:07 +0000

Antoine Rojard was probably the son of the horologist Jean-Daniel Rojard, and worked in Geneva at the end of the 18th and early 19th century. He is known to have produced complex automatons and watches, including some set with thermometers. The Rojard firm continued until the end of the 19th century and was known for producing repeating watches in the English style. Reference: Christie’s. Legend has it that he made a ring watch for Napoleon Bonaparte. Many of his watches contained miniature automatons.

Antoine Rojard Maker’s Mark

A SWISS JEWELLED ENAMELLED MUSICAL GOLD SNUFF-BOX WITH AUTOMATON, THE MUSIC LESSON
THE BOX BY GUIDON, GIDE & BLONDET FILS (FL. 1801-1804), MARKED, GENEVA, CIRCA 1804, THE MOVEMENT WITH SCRATCHED SIGNATURE ‘ANT. ROJARD À GENÈVE, INVINIT ET FECIT, NO 2170’, FOR ANTOINE ROJARD, GENEVA
rectangular box with canted corners, the cover, sides and base set with panels of dark-blue translucent enamel on an engine-turned ground, the cover centred with a square enamel plaque depicting the Muse of Music with two cherubs in attendance

Sold for HKD 2,250,000 at Christie’s in 2018

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Piguet & Capt

Antique Automatons — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 14:38:55 +0000

Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775 – 1841) and Henri Capt (1773 – 1837?) were partners from 1802 to 1811 in the firm bearing their name, Piguet & Capt. The duo are considered amongst the most important makers of small automata at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. Examples of their craftsmanship are exhibited in the world’s foremost collections such as the Patek Philippe Museum, Geneva. Reference: Sotheby’s

ATTRIBUTED TO PIGUET & CAPT. AN EXTRAORDINARILY FINE, RARE AND ATTRACTIVE 18K PINK GOLD, ENAMEL AND DIAMOND-SET RECTANGULAR-SHAPED KEYWOUND QUARTER REPEATING RING WATCH WITH AUTOMATON, ADJUSTABLE SHANK AND ORIGINAL FITTED BOX AND PURPOSE-MADE KEY
UNSIGNED, THE SHANK STAMPED WITH THE FRENCH IMPORT MARK FOR 1809-1819, CIRCA 1810
Movement: gilt-finished rectangular-shaped, one going barrel and one fixed repeating barrel, quarter repeating with two hammers on a single bell, cylinder escapement located within the bell

Sold for HKD 750,000 at Christie’s in 2021

An Exceptional & Rare Three Compartment Gold & Enamel Snuff Box With Concealed Automaton & Timepiece Attributed To Piguet & Capt, The Enamel Scene Likely By Richter, circa 1800
Circa: 1800
rectangular gold box 82 mm x 36 mm, the left compartment with a multicolor gold automaton scene, the lower figure working at his bench, upper figure working on a vertical facade, rotating windmill against a polychrome enameled background, the automaton set in motion when the lid is lifted, the left fitted with a brass cylinder movement with three arm balance, enameled Arabic hour and seconds dials against a black enameled and finely engraved gold panel, the interior upper right corner of the main lid stamped with RI & C makers mark, the tops of the side panels with gold and enameled floral vases, central panel with polychrome scene depicting a young boy fishing accompanied by two young women, applied multicolor gold floral baskets and leaves on the corners, the sides and base decorated with translucent two tone blue enamel against a lozenge design, the borders with white, black and gold bands

A RARE THREE-COMPARTMENT GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF BOX WITH TIMEPIECE AND AUTOMATON
ATTRIBUTED TO PIGUET & CAPT GENEVA
CIRCA 1810
Gold and enamel
length 83 mm
• vertically arranged rectangular box, the left lower panel concealing a timepiece modeled as a festooned clock with separate seconds dial, the right panel revealing a vari-color gold automaton scene of two cupids forging arrows, with hound and quiver in the foreground, the enamel landscape scene including a windmill automaton with revolving gold sail, the top compartment fitted with a mirror • the covers mounted with four octagonal panels with standing figures symbolic of the Seasons: Spring, Summer, and Autumn as young women holding the appropriate emblems and Winter as an old man with a brazier, centered by an applied gold Apollo mask with floral garland • the base and sides enameled in translucent blue over engine-turning within borders of leaf tips and double arches with urns at the ends • with contemporary enamel gold key • the automaton and timepiece probably by Piguet & Capt, Geneva

Sold for 187,500 USD at Sotheby’s in 2016

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Meuron & Cie

Antique Automatons — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 08:44:16 +0000

Meuron & Cie was active around 1800 in Geneva , Neuchatel , La Chaux-de-Fonds and Paris. Percussion clocks, automaton skeleton watches and pedometer were produced. Pedometer watches were delivered to Jaquet-Droz . The watches were usually equipped with gold cases, decorated with pearls and enamel. The company suffered a big loss with the big fire in La Chaux de Fonds in 1794 . A collection of precious Breguet watches was destroyed by this fire. In addition to pocket watches, the company also supplied clocks, clocks, and travel watches.

Meuron & Cie was owned by three business partners, François Meuron, Jean-Jacques Thourouise and Jacques-Louis Pourtalès (1722-1814), he was called the “King of Merchants”. Several representatives of Meuron & Cie were also in Belgium, Overmann Frères, in Brussels Charlesf-Frédéric Dubois, in Liège, JC Lambrechts & Sohn, watchmaker in Antwerp and Louis Marquis in Luxembourg. Reference: Wikipedia

A SECOND QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY FRENCH ORMOLU GRANDE SONNERIE ‘PENDULE D’OFFICIER’ WITH PULL REPEAT AND ALARM.
Meuron & Comp., the case stamped Aime Billon
The classical inspired case with wreath handle over a pediment and lyre bossed sides on lion’s paw feet, with two cords (one for repeat, the other for alarm winding), with lever below offering options for grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie and silence, the signed 3.75 inch Arabic dial with blued steel Breguet style hands with alarm setting hand, the hinged fretted rear door revealing the spring driven movement with lever escapement and external strike and repeat work, striking the hours, half hours and quarters on a pair of blued-steel coiled gongs on two hammers. 26.5cms (10inches) high

Sold for £ 5,100 (US$ 6,100) inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2021

MEURON & CIE REPEATER IN GOLD, CIRCA 1840 Case: n. 51080, four-body in gold, entirely chiseled with floral motifs, engraved caseback with lake view and allegorical scene. Dial: white enamel, Roman numerals, minute track, Breguet hands. Movement: key-winding, n. 51080, 4 jewels, gilded, bridge plate, cylinder escapement. Quarter repeater with two hammers on two gong.

Sold for €800 at Aste Bolaffi in 2022

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James Cox

Antique Automatons — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 16:02:34 +0000

James Cox (c. 1723–1800) was a British jeweller, goldsmith and entrepreneur and the proprietor of Cox’s Museum. He is now best known for creating ingenious automata and mechanical clocks, including Cox’s timepiece, powered by atmospheric pressure, the Peacock Clock and the Silver Swan.

Cox’s career as a jeweler began as early as 1751, and his automatons were designed by artists like Joseph Nollekens and Johann Zoffany. In the 1760s John Joseph Merlin became his apprentice. Though he proclaimed himself a goldsmith, he employed a number of jewelers and manufacturers who may have done much of the work; that he was never a member of the goldsmith’s guild further substantiates the claim that he subcontracted his work. Cox specialized in intricate clockwork curios encrusted with gold, silver, and jewels, referred to as “sing-songs.” His primary market was the Far East, especially India and China, and the Chinese Qianlong Emperor possessed one of his automata, in the shape of a chariot. Cox’s popularity was important to British trade: the tea trade ensured that British imports far outweighed their exports to China, and Cox helped redress the imbalance. His sing-songs initially reduced British trade deficit, but in the early 1770s Cox was stuck with a large inventory and a flooded eastern market. He liquidated some of his stock at Christie’s in 1772, and used the remaining inventory to start his museum. Reference: Wikipedia

A GEORGE III GOLD AND AGATE MOUNTED AUTOMATON WATCH; WITH AN ORMOLU AND AGATE MUSICAL AND AUTOMATON CABINET
FROM THE WORKSHOP OF JAMES COX, LONDON, CIRCA 1770, THE WATCH SIGNED AND NUMBERED ‘1391’, THE CABINET’S MUSICAL MOVEMENT NUMBERED ’11’, ADAPTED TO ACCOMMODATE A WATCH
The watch; CASE: the 20k gold, agate, ruby and paste-set pair case with seed pearl frames, makers mark ‘PM’ for Peter Mounier; DIAL: the white enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic outer five minute markers, blued steel hands, with eight automaton stars to the border which rotate when activated; MOVEMENT: with verge escapement and chain fusee, standing barrel for the automata, pierced and chased backcock with diamond endstone, the backplate signed ‘Jam.s. Cox London 1391’

Sold for GBP 443,250 at Christie’s in 2020

JAMES COX, LONDON A GEORGE III FIGURED MAHOGANY ORMOLU MOUNTED BRACKET CLOCK the case with bell top pediment, hinged handle and torche finials above a glazed door with canted ormolu caryatid corners enclosing a 7″ arched brass dial with gilt spandrels and silvered chapter ring surrounding a matted centre with calendar aperture, the arch with sunken cartouche and two subsidiary dials for regulation and Strike/Silent fronting a signed eight-day double fusee movement with rise and fall verge escapement striking the hours on a gong; the backplate mounted with an unusual pivoted pendulum stay 48cm high

Sold for £2,600 at Hutchinson Scott Auctioneers in 2020

A VERY RARE AND UNUSUAL GOLD, ENAMEL, RUBY AND PEARL-SET QUARTER REPEATING VERGE WATCH WITH CONCEALED EROTIC SCENE MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET WITH MATCHING ENAMEL ASSOCIATED CHAIN
CIRCA 1770, NO. 5680
YELLOW GOLD, ENAMEL, RUBY AND PEARL-SET
diameter 40 mm

Sold for 40,000 GBP at Sotheby’s in 2015

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Karl Griesbaum

Antique Automatons — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 18:34:25 +0000

Karl Griesbaum. The Griesbaum firm for more than half a century dominated among the companies that produced snuffboxes with singing birds. Its production capacity exceeded the production capacity of all other firms combined.
The Griesbaum firm was founded in 1905 in the city of Triberg, Schwarz Wald (The Black Forest), Germany. Its founder Karl Griesbaum was born in 1872 in the family of Mathias Griesbaum, a clockmaker. Schwarz Wald was traditionally home to cuckoos lodged in charming, hand-carved wooden clocks. Those clocks were very popular among the locals, as well as among the tourists. Reference: Museum Collection

Karl Griesbaum Maker’s Mark – Bird with KG stamp

KARL GRIESBAUM | A GILT AND PAINTED METAL SINGING BIRD CAGE, CIRCA 1950
Polished brass bird cage containing the singing bird, realistically covered in multicoloured plumage, the bird rotating on its axis, flapping its wings, turning the head and opening its beak, the green painted base housing the mechanical movement, fixed winding key in the base, signed and stamped K.G.
Height: 30cm

Sold for HK$7,012.50 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2021

Karl Griesbaum “THE DRUNKARD” Whistler

Automaton German Antique Bird Whistler, stamped KG on the back. Key wind with key, in working order. The light pole is battery operated. 19″ H.

Sold for US$400 at Redlands Antique Auction in 2022

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