TRAVAIL FRANÇAIS

Gilded metal singing bird box containing a sewing kit Rectangular case, the whole decorated with volutes and foliage decorations, bouquets of flowers on the edge, the cover of the singing bird resuming the motifs of love with a quiver and a torch flame. The lower part of the hinged case contains a sewing kit including a thimble and a pair of scissors, a point and a case, as well as the key in the form of lyre to activate the mechanism of the songbird. The mechanism of the automaton songbird activating its beak and wings is driven by a fuse connected to a circular bellows and is controlled by a stack of several cams, triggered by a pull tab on the front panel. (Missing feathers on the bird's wings) Height. 5,3 cm Length. 12 cm Larg. 8 cm Blaise Bontems (1814 - 1893) started producing singing birds in Paris in 1849, and his singing bird boxes soon garnered worldwide success. Legend has it that the Bontems family regularly went to the Bois de Boulogne with their flutes to fine-tune the true sound of the birdsong. The Bontems company was later bought by the Reuge company in Switzerland, now the world reference for contemporary singing bird boxes. Reuge still manufactures them today, using the same technique as in the past.