Important Collectors Wristwatches, P...
Hong Kong,the Ritz Carlton Hotel,harbour Room, 3rd Floor, Nov 25, 2006
LOT 131
C. Bruguier & Fils, Geneva, No. 138, retailed by A. Golay Leresche & Fils, Geneva, Rue de la Paix 2, Paris. Made for the Italian market circa 1860. Very fine 18k gold and enamel, diamond-set singing bird box in a leather fitted box.
HKD 700,000 - 900,000
USD 90,000 - 115,000 / EUR 72,000 - 92,000
Sold: HKD 826,000
C. Rectangular with lobed corners, the cover with champlevé azure enamel decorated with gold foliate pattern, diamondset birds at each corner, aperture in the center for the bird with oval cover. The painted scene on the cover depicts a violin player, his dog and two children in a typical central Italian landscape. The dog is carrying a basket in its mouth to collect alms for its owner. The inside of the case is painted with an Alpine landscape with flowers in the foreground, the side panels are engraved with simulated wickerwork, hinged back for key compartments, back entirely engraved with scrolling and foliate pattern. Singing bird movement: 85 x 44 mm., full plate, turned pillars, fusee and chain, rectangular bellows, bird with moving head, flapping wings, opening beak and tail, eight cams controlling the piston and the bird?s beak and tail, two additional cams for the bird?s other movements, long duration of singing, precision cam-controlled lifting mechanism, gold grill pierced and engraved with floral pattern. Signed on the watch cover. Dim. 104 x 66 x 35 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Notes
Born on January 5, 1788, in Geneva, he was the son of a clockmaker and became a clockmaker himself. In 1815, Charles- Abraham Bruguier took his family to London, where they lived for several years. Two children were born in London: Charles- Abraham in 1818, and Louise in 1821. The Bruguier family returned to Switzerland around 1823. Judith, their fourth child, was born in Geneva in 1825.
It is apparently only after the return to Geneva, where they first settled in the rue de Coutance 87, that is, after 1823, that Charles- Abraham first began making singing birds.
Between 1833 and 1837, Bruguier traveled again, this time to the town of Sainte-Suzanne near Montbéliard in France, to work in the Paur music-box factory (which afterwards became the L?Epée factory). This explains the existence of music boxes with the Bruguier signature. It would seem that Charles-Abraham junior, perhaps then already serving his apprenticeship, did not accompany them, for he is not mentioned in the passport application, which says only ?destination Montbéliard, with his wife and three daughters?.
In 1837, the Bruguier family returned once again to Geneva, living first in the rue du Cendrier 121 bis and moving the following year to rue Coutance 75. After 1843, Bruguier senior, having acquired property in Grand-Pré (north of Geneva), transferred his workshop there. Charles Abraham Bruguier senior died in June 1862, at 74 years of age.
The elder Bruguier is known for his bird boxes, but he made other kinds of pieces as well, even quite unusual ones such as these cited by his grandson Jacques-Alexandre: ?a clock surmounted by a vase, in the center of which a rose opens up on the hour. Out of this rose comes a hummingbird which sings and flies back to where it came from, whereupon the rose closes up again.? Or, ?a flute player leaning against a tree. He plays, every movement of his fingers corresponding to a note. A small bird appears and sings, and the man puts down his flute and turns his head to listen. A cat suddenly appears and pounces on the bird just as it finishes its song, but the bird disappears and the man begins playing again.?
Charles-Abraham Bruguier the younger (1818-1891)
Born in London in 1818, married Adèle-Albertine Gerbel on December 24, 1842. The marriage certificate names him as a maker of music boxes, and his bride as a checker of musical pieces. Bruguier junior is listed for the first time in the 1843 census as having a workshop independent of his father?s, at Terreaux de Chantepoulet 41. He described himself as a mechanic and head of his workshop. Some time later, he had moved to rue Rousseau, 42. In 1862, an advertisement places him in the rue Sismondi, 97, and in 1866, in the rue des Pâquis, 5, where he remained until at least 1889. Afterward, Bruguier the younger moved to Plainpalais, where he died on July 17, 1891.
Literature: Sharon and Christian Bailly, ?Flights of Fancy, Mechanical Singing Birds?, Antiquorum Editions, 2001, pp. 299-301.
The present lot was sold by Antiquorum in October 2002, lot 136.