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Lot Essay
TRIPLE BOXES: RARE MECHANICAL MASTERPIECES
Triple boxes combining music, automata, and timepieces are rare technical masterpieces, usually attributed to Piguet & Capt and made for the Chinese export market, often in pairs. This particular example was once part of the famous collection of King Farouk I, sold in 1954.
A COLLABORATIVE WORK
These boxes were collaborative creations of Geneva’s leading craftsmen involving the casemakers, Sené & Détalla, the clockmakers, Piguet & Capt, and the enameller, Jean-Louis Richter. Sené and Détalla worked together between 1795 and 1805 and were known for richly enamelled luxury objects.
HENRY DAVID-CAPT AND ISAAC-DANIEL CAPT: MASTERS OF MINIATURE MOVEMENTS
Henry-Daniel Capt and Isaac-Daniel Piguet founded Piguet & Capt in Geneva in 1802 working together until 1810-11. They specialised in highly complex luxury objects such as snuff boxes, bonbonnières, bird boxes, and musical timepieces featuring automatons. Their often unsigned works are recognised for exceptional quality and innovation.
They were among the first Geneva makers to adopt the pinned-cylinder musical mechanism invented in 1796 by Antoine Favre-Salomon. This mechanism used vibrating steel blades arranged like a keyboard, creating the early “comb music” system that became central to musical boxes.
JEAN-LOUIS RICHTER
Jean-Louis Richter was one of the leading Swiss enamel painters of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Trained in Geneva, he became known for alpine landscapes and genre scenes inspired by artists such as William Hamilton, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and François Boucher. His work often adapted or combined compositions from well-known paintings and engravings. The scene on this box may have been Richter’s own original composition inspired by French and English artistic styles.
THE FAROUK COLLECTION
This triple box was sold in the famous 1954 auction, The Palace Collections of Egypt, from the collection of King Farouk I. Farouk, who became King of Egypt in 1936 at age 16, was renowned for his vast and extravagant collecting habits. The 1954 sale, lasting over a month, dispersed thousands of objects including furniture, coins, jewels, watches, musical boxes, and automaton pieces, becoming one of the most iconic auctions in collecting history.
Comparative literature:
H. Williams, 19th century Snuffboxes, The David and Michael Iakobashvili Collection, Monaco, 2025.
H. Boeckh, 'Jean-Louis Richter, peintre genevois sur émail (1766-1841): son mode de travail et le choix de ses motifs', Geneva, n.s., XXXI, 1983, pp. 101-119.
Triple boxes combining music, automata, and timepieces are rare technical masterpieces, usually attributed to Piguet & Capt and made for the Chinese export market, often in pairs. This particular example was once part of the famous collection of King Farouk I, sold in 1954.
A COLLABORATIVE WORK
These boxes were collaborative creations of Geneva’s leading craftsmen involving the casemakers, Sené & Détalla, the clockmakers, Piguet & Capt, and the enameller, Jean-Louis Richter. Sené and Détalla worked together between 1795 and 1805 and were known for richly enamelled luxury objects.
HENRY DAVID-CAPT AND ISAAC-DANIEL CAPT: MASTERS OF MINIATURE MOVEMENTS
Henry-Daniel Capt and Isaac-Daniel Piguet founded Piguet & Capt in Geneva in 1802 working together until 1810-11. They specialised in highly complex luxury objects such as snuff boxes, bonbonnières, bird boxes, and musical timepieces featuring automatons. Their often unsigned works are recognised for exceptional quality and innovation.
They were among the first Geneva makers to adopt the pinned-cylinder musical mechanism invented in 1796 by Antoine Favre-Salomon. This mechanism used vibrating steel blades arranged like a keyboard, creating the early “comb music” system that became central to musical boxes.
JEAN-LOUIS RICHTER
Jean-Louis Richter was one of the leading Swiss enamel painters of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Trained in Geneva, he became known for alpine landscapes and genre scenes inspired by artists such as William Hamilton, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and François Boucher. His work often adapted or combined compositions from well-known paintings and engravings. The scene on this box may have been Richter’s own original composition inspired by French and English artistic styles.
THE FAROUK COLLECTION
This triple box was sold in the famous 1954 auction, The Palace Collections of Egypt, from the collection of King Farouk I. Farouk, who became King of Egypt in 1936 at age 16, was renowned for his vast and extravagant collecting habits. The 1954 sale, lasting over a month, dispersed thousands of objects including furniture, coins, jewels, watches, musical boxes, and automaton pieces, becoming one of the most iconic auctions in collecting history.
Comparative literature:
H. Williams, 19th century Snuffboxes, The David and Michael Iakobashvili Collection, Monaco, 2025.
H. Boeckh, 'Jean-Louis Richter, peintre genevois sur émail (1766-1841): son mode de travail et le choix de ses motifs', Geneva, n.s., XXXI, 1983, pp. 101-119.