Singing Bird Box with a Concealed Watch
Singing Bird Box with a Concealed Watch
Switzerland, Geneva
1815–1819
Rémond, Jean-George, Rémond, Lamy, Mercier & Cie
Gold, enamel, pearls, feathers, metal movement
2.7 × 7.8 × 5.3 cm
Marks: maker’s mark IG.RC in a horizontal lozenge, PC3 unofficial 18ct standard mark, post-1815 Geneva mark
In Geneva linear white champlevé decoration was most typically used for the decoration of watches and automaton boxes, although on occasion it was also used for snuffboxes, such as one by Sené & Détalla. When this box was written up in the Antiques Trade Gazette in April 1997 it was described erroneously as a ‘dainty musical box, made in Germany by Jean-Georges Remond’ and the apocryphal provenance was noted: ‘Legend has it that Napoleon presented the box to Prince Sapica in 1810.’
4378MCA185/ДПИ