Piguet & Meylan. A fine and rare 18K gold, enamel, pearl and diamond-set butterfly-form musical snuff box with automaton and watch, made for the Chinese Market

STAMPED PM FOR PIGUET MEYLAN, NO. 3456, CIRCA 1820

Details

Piguet & Meylan. A fine and rare 18K gold, enamel, pearl and diamond-set butterfly-form musical snuff box with automaton and watch, made for the Chinese Market
Stamped PM for Piguet Meylan, No. 3456, circa 1820
With gilt-finished cylinder movement, gilt musical disc or sur plateau movement, the box in form of a butterfly, the sides with polychrome translucent enamel on guilloch background, light blue champlev enamel foliage decorated borders, the base similarly decorated and centred by translucent red enamel on guilloch background, the cover with painted polychrome enamel, pearl and diamond-set decoration depicting the butterfly's wings and body, the left hinged wing opening to reveal a compartment, the right hinged wing opening to reveal the watch with Roman numerals on white enamel dial, subsidiary dial for constant seconds, the raised multicoloured gold automaton scene depicting a lady playing the guitar and a gentleman playing a lyre in unison with the music, all on a polychrome painted enamel landscape scene, the music activated by a sliding lever in the band, together with key and original fitted leather butterfly-form presentation box, movement stamped PM and numbered 3456
84 mm. wide

Literature

The Technique and History of the Swiss Watch by Eugne Jaquet - Alfred Chapuis.
Musical Box - A History and Collector's Guide by Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume.

Lot Essay

Isaac-Daniel Piguet was born in Le Chenit in the Valley of Joux in 1775. At an early age, he specialised in the manufacturing of expensive and complicated pieces such as watches with carillons and en passant hours and quarters striking clock watches.
He finally settled in Geneva where, in 1811, he formed a partnership with Philippe-Samuel Meylan.
Philippe-Samuel Meylan (1772-1845), a member of a family of renowned watchmakers, was born in Le Brassus. He specialised in the production of very thin watches and became an eminent maker of watches with musical automata.

Piguet et Meylan made musical items of superb quality. Some of the movements were extraordinarily thin and based on the disc or sur plateau format with fan teeth, a system believed to have been invented by Meylan. The majority of the pieces were marked with the initials PM and a serial number.

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