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拍品专文
This birdcage-clock, now sadly lacking its automaton bird and musical clock movement, belongs to a well-defined group attributed to the Swiss clock and automaton maker Pierre Jacquet-Droz (1721-1790).
Distinctive features common to the group include the use of tapered columns with urn capitals, niches in the base incorporating porcelain figures and oval enamel plaques, probably of Swiss manufacture, framed by swagged ormolu mounts often virtually identical to those on the example offered here. The group is exhaustively discussed by Geoffrey de Bellaigue in The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. I, pp. 164-9, cat. 34.
The group includes the following examples:
- one in the Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers, Paris, a pair in the Muse du Serail, Istanbul, originally a gift to Sultan Selim II (reigned 1761-1808), one in the British Museum, the gift of E.J. Dingwall, 1968, one in a private collection (illustrated in Connaissance des Arts, Le Dix-Huitime Sicle Franais, Paris, 1956, p. 120, fig. A), one formerly in the collection of Madame Hall, Neuilly-sur- Seine, (illustrated in A. Chapuis and E. Glis, Le Monde des Automates, Paris, 1928, vol. II, p. 134, fig. 408), one formerly in the collection of Mrs. James A. de Rothschild, sold Christie's London, 20 June 1972, lot 68, one sold from a private collection, Sotheby's Monaco, 26-7 May 1985, lot 1228
The conceit of an automaton imitating live birdsong was evidently a popular one in fashionable circles and as early as 1754 the duc de Cry recorded in his diary ' Je vis avec plaisir une pendule de la Marquise [de Pompadour] avec un serin sifflant plusieurs airs, faite avec soin '.
The firm of Pierre Jacquet-Droz, which specialized in these charming birdcage clocks, was originally established at La Chaux-de-Fonds and later at Geneva. It was continued by his son Henri-Louis (1752-1791) and carried on under various owners until 1835.
Distinctive features common to the group include the use of tapered columns with urn capitals, niches in the base incorporating porcelain figures and oval enamel plaques, probably of Swiss manufacture, framed by swagged ormolu mounts often virtually identical to those on the example offered here. The group is exhaustively discussed by Geoffrey de Bellaigue in The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. I, pp. 164-9, cat. 34.
The group includes the following examples:
- one in the Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers, Paris, a pair in the Muse du Serail, Istanbul, originally a gift to Sultan Selim II (reigned 1761-1808), one in the British Museum, the gift of E.J. Dingwall, 1968, one in a private collection (illustrated in Connaissance des Arts, Le Dix-Huitime Sicle Franais, Paris, 1956, p. 120, fig. A), one formerly in the collection of Madame Hall, Neuilly-sur- Seine, (illustrated in A. Chapuis and E. Glis, Le Monde des Automates, Paris, 1928, vol. II, p. 134, fig. 408), one formerly in the collection of Mrs. James A. de Rothschild, sold Christie's London, 20 June 1972, lot 68, one sold from a private collection, Sotheby's Monaco, 26-7 May 1985, lot 1228
The conceit of an automaton imitating live birdsong was evidently a popular one in fashionable circles and as early as 1754 the duc de Cry recorded in his diary ' Je vis avec plaisir une pendule de la Marquise [de Pompadour] avec un serin sifflant plusieurs airs, faite avec soin '.
The firm of Pierre Jacquet-Droz, which specialized in these charming birdcage clocks, was originally established at La Chaux-de-Fonds and later at Geneva. It was continued by his son Henri-Louis (1752-1791) and carried on under various owners until 1835.