Antique Hexagonal Base Single Singing Bird in Cage by Bontems

An antique coin-operated large double singing birds-in-cage, by Bontems, French circa 1900 Spend a penny in style When wound and a 1d. coin inse...

A antique tortoiseshell singing bird box, by Bontems Circa 1890, Going-barrel movement, Motor-view light anomaly... When wound and start/...

A stunning and very fine Hexagonal gilt bronze and Sevres plaque single singing bird-in-cage, by Bontems, Going-barrel movement, When wound with the key and start/stop lever actuated, the large and perfectly perched red thrush begins to sing his chorus, moving naturalistic beak, tailfeather and head from side-to-side to continuous birdsong. One of the most sought after and most looked forward to models ever made by Bontems, this example is offered in pristine original condition. Hexagonal shaped, which is one of the rarer models you'll be lucky to come across, with 8 seperate porcelain plaques depicting lovers alternating with song birds within tooled gilt and bleu céleste borders Gilt bronze singing bird cages, usually with stained glass, or fine porcelain panel inserts, were made in limited numbers during the 19th century to commission orders. The first maker to offer a bird cage to this design was Jacquet Droz in about 1798 with his large singing bird in cage, fusee-driven with a clock to the underside so when hung up, its use was three-dimensional. Bontems created this with the past in mind and was no doubt the only maker...

A antique tortoiseshell singing bird box, most probably by Bontems, Going barrel movement, Gilt metal two-tone brilliance... When wound and start/stop slide moved to the right, the bird pops up through foliate chased gilt grille, then proceeds to move bone beak, wings and body from side-to-side to good complex continuous synchronized birdsong. The bird with streaked feathered plumage in brown, yellow, turquoise and red, lime green and purple iridescent highlights, highly polished lid interior for full bird reflection, in plain polished tortoiseshell case, twinned laurel leaf engraved bird lid border with the bird lid engraved with love birds and rose united beneath leaf swag arch, accentuated with gilt on silvered ground, hidden key...