A Bontems double singing bird clock no. 799

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Details

A Bontems double singing bird clock no. 799
the glazed central section with painted scene and two birds with brightly-coloured plumage, moving heads, beaks and tails, activated five minutes before the hour by the two-train clock movement with blue enamel chapter ring and visible escapement, striking on the hour and the half, in ormolu case cast with foliate scrolls, floral relief, Sevres style porcelain plaques and sumounted by two cast birds, the base containing key-wind going-barrel automaton movement stamped Bontems, Paris, Bte, SGDG - 26in. (66cm.) high, (bellows replaced), circa 1890

Literature

Christian Bailly (1987), Automata, The Golden Age 1848-1914, p. 61 Andrea Robertson (1992), Museum of Automata (catalogue), p. 47.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Further details

See Colour Plate and Cover detail

Lot Essay

The Bontems firm produced a series of singing bird clocks, including a special commission for the Czarina of Russia. The firm is listed in the Paris directories from 1849, and in 1851 displayed a bronze clock with singing birds at the Great Exhibition. In the same year, automata clocks were advertised at 18 francs, against a price of 12 francs for a standard singing bird group.

The birds can also be activated independantly from the clock.

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