A SWISS JEWELLED ENAMELLED GOLD MUSICAL SINGING BIRD-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE

The case is the work of one of Geneva's most celebrated case-makers, Jean-Georges Rémond, renowned "monteur de boîtes en or" or maker of gold cases. In 1790 he founded Georges Rémond & Cie., excelling in elaborate gold cases for watches and snuff boxes, often destined for the export to the Orient. During the French occupation of Switzerland (1798-1815) by Napoléon, J.-G. Rémond’s recorded marks were in accordance with the laws of the newly formed Département of Léman. During this time his initials appear within a lozenge. Rémond & Cie. worked for Les Frères Rochat, Piguet & Capt, Jaquet-Droz & Leschot and Frisard, the cases often decorated with enamel scenes by Lissignol, Richter, Dupont and others. Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775-1841) and Henry Capt (1773-1841), were important watchmakers, goldsmiths and jewellers who worked in partnership from 1802-1811 and specialized in musical and automaton watches. Capt, Piguet's brother-in-law, was one of the first in Geneva to use the pinned cylinder and tuned-tooth comb musical mechanism. The brothers François-Elisée, Frédéric and Samuel-Henri Rochat were active in Geneva from around 1800 to 1835. Apprenticed by their father Pierre Rochat in Brassus, they worked as watchmakers for Jaquet-Droz et Leschot before moving to Geneva in order to set up their own business. The highly talented brothers quickly joined the illustrious elite of the greatest makers of the highly complex singing bird mechanisms and automaton watches which they supplied also to other manufacturers. The Rochats were famous for their perfection of the singing bird mechanism by adding larger amounts of cams, hence rendering the bird's movements more natural, and for the enhancing of the quality of the sound by using piston rods.
Mahmud II (1789-1839), 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1808-1839), was born in the Topkapi Palace, Constantinople, the posthumous son of Sultan Abdul Hamid I. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms he instituted, which culminated into the Decree of Tanzimat, or Reorganisation, that was carried out by his sons Abdülmecid I and Abdülaziz I. Often known as "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud's reforms included the 1826 abolishment of the conservative Janissary corps, which removed a major obstacle to his and his successors reforms in the Empire.

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Saleroom Notice

The enamel miniature is not of Mahmud II but is of his eldest son and heir Abdulmecid I (1823-1861) 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839-1861).