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Lot Essay
GENEVA, CENTRE OF PRODUCTION OF WATCH AND AUTOMATON MOVEMENTS
Since the middle ages, Geneva was renowned for its goldsmithing and as a Calvinist city had welcomed all protestants including many talented Huguenot goldsmiths and tradesmen attached to the profession. In 1789, although Geneva was seemingly small with a population of around 26,000, la Fabrique, as was known the watch and jewellery trade, employed around 5000 people working together in a very loose self-regulating guild system which simplified the profession and commerce.
In the 18th century members of the Fabrique worked with a middle man called an établisseur who not only supplied the raw materials but also sold the finished movements to négotiants (merchants) who would sell them on abroad (p. 63 J. Clarke, 2014). Of course larger structures were able to sell their own goods directly.
The 1780s were thus prosperous years for Geneva with an increased production of movements, automata sometimes retailed raw all over Europe or sold in elaborately decorated boxes supplied by the local talented goldsmiths and intended for the European, but especially Ottoman and Chinese markets.
ONE OF A PAIR?
The Chinese were believed to consider pairs to be lucky and particularly liked pieces with automaton, musical movements or watches. Hence pieces made for China, were often brightly enamelled and included a complicated element. These were then exported on perilous routes to be presented at fairs or potential clients. In some cases they came back to Geneva where the pairs were then sold separately. Few examples of pairs have survived, the best documented is that of singing bird boxes, with movement by Jacquet-Droz & Leschot, the cases by Guidon, Rémond, Gide & Co., dated 1800-1801 ordered by the London retail jewellers David Duval & Co. who like James Cox specialised in sending elaborate mechanical novelties to China (sold in Treasures, Princely Taste, Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 23).
Our automaton appears to be identical and could be the pair to the one in the Gilbert Collection now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, (Acc. No. LOAN:GILBERT.383-2008) previously in the collection of Henry Ford II sold in 1978. This suggest that it may have been conceived as a pair to be sold in China.
Both carry this maker’s mark M&P under crown often seen on musical boxes, recently on the box sold in the Bayreuth Collection, Christie’s Paris, 9 to 22 November 2023, lot 57 which show very similar gold chasing, and can be attributed to Hanau. Therefore it would seem that although the musical and automaton movement was made in Geneva, it was probably acquired by a Hanau goldsmith to be set in a box.
A HANAU MAKER
Despite Lorenz Seelig’s research (op. cit. 2014) which cleared out the historical misattribution of Hanau pieces to Geneva, many goldsmiths are still unidentified. However Seelig showed that there was a strong bond between the two cities who not only ‘exchanged’ makers, such as the famous Jean George Rémond working in Geneva but born and trained in Hanau, but also had an active commerce. Interestingly Sotheby's presented in New York, 23 October 2006 under lot 124 a similar automaton box marked Augustin-André Héguin, Paris, 1786 or 1787 but unenamelled and with slightly different chased motifs. This helps to confirm that in both instances the movement as well as the automaton figure were made in Geneva but that the gold box was made by a local maker. fitted in a Parisian gold box.
TIGHTROPE DANCING
Tightrope dancing exists since Antiquity although it remained confined to the fairs until the second half of the 18th century when it entered theatres. Indeed it took London and Paris by storm certainly because of the enthusiasm of the kings and the Courts for the discipline; even the comte d’Artois (the future Charles X) took lesson and was apparently quite talented.
By the 18th century, circus and dance influenced each other so that the tightrope dancer became assimilated to a ballerina with tutu while wearing plumes as a headgear in the tradition of saltimbanque and circus performers. In Paris, the Grands-Danseurs et Sauteurs du Roy (the Great Dancers and Jumper of the King), founded in 1753 by Jean-Baptiste Nicolet (1687-1762), comprised actors, dancers and agility artists in equal numbers who received a royal privilege in 1772, and thereby became incredibly famous.
By the end of the 18th century, rope dancing had transformed into a "high wire act" and was an important act in stage shows. It was theatrical, providing opportunities for sequence of skits with dramatic postures, costumes and accessories. Performers such as Signora Violante (1682-1741), Marina Rossi (fl. 1768-1776) Madame Saqui (1786-1866) to name a few, all contributed to transform tightrope walking into a theatrical performance. Its popularity in high society certainly explained that the figure was used to create an automaton.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Clarke, Swiss Gold Boxes : Myth or Reality in Going for Gold, Craftmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, in Going for Gold, Craftmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, 2014, p. 61-73.
L. Seelig, Gold Box Production in Hanau: The Extended Workbench of Frankfurt and its Trade Fair in Going for Gold, Craftmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, 2014, p. 74-91.
A. Chapuis and E. Gélis, Le monde des automates: Etude historique et technique. 2 vols. Paris, 1928. Ill. 326.
G. von Habsburg-Lothringen, Gold boxes from the collection of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert, 1983. 125 p., ill. Cat. no. 2, p. 21.
Important English & Continental Silver & Objects of Vertu. Sotheby's, New York, October 23, 2006 (N08236). Lot 124, pp. 78-81.
C. Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Vol. I. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1991, cat. no. 121, pp. 348-9.
T. Schroder, ed. The Gilbert Collection at the V&A. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, p. 61, plate 46.
H. Zech, Gold Boxes. Masterpieces from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection. London: V&A Publishing, 2015, pp. 128-129, no. 46.
T. Schroder, Gold boxes : from the Gilbert collection : an exhibition, Los Angeles : Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.
Since the middle ages, Geneva was renowned for its goldsmithing and as a Calvinist city had welcomed all protestants including many talented Huguenot goldsmiths and tradesmen attached to the profession. In 1789, although Geneva was seemingly small with a population of around 26,000, la Fabrique, as was known the watch and jewellery trade, employed around 5000 people working together in a very loose self-regulating guild system which simplified the profession and commerce.
In the 18th century members of the Fabrique worked with a middle man called an établisseur who not only supplied the raw materials but also sold the finished movements to négotiants (merchants) who would sell them on abroad (p. 63 J. Clarke, 2014). Of course larger structures were able to sell their own goods directly.
The 1780s were thus prosperous years for Geneva with an increased production of movements, automata sometimes retailed raw all over Europe or sold in elaborately decorated boxes supplied by the local talented goldsmiths and intended for the European, but especially Ottoman and Chinese markets.
ONE OF A PAIR?
The Chinese were believed to consider pairs to be lucky and particularly liked pieces with automaton, musical movements or watches. Hence pieces made for China, were often brightly enamelled and included a complicated element. These were then exported on perilous routes to be presented at fairs or potential clients. In some cases they came back to Geneva where the pairs were then sold separately. Few examples of pairs have survived, the best documented is that of singing bird boxes, with movement by Jacquet-Droz & Leschot, the cases by Guidon, Rémond, Gide & Co., dated 1800-1801 ordered by the London retail jewellers David Duval & Co. who like James Cox specialised in sending elaborate mechanical novelties to China (sold in Treasures, Princely Taste, Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 23).
Our automaton appears to be identical and could be the pair to the one in the Gilbert Collection now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, (Acc. No. LOAN:GILBERT.383-2008) previously in the collection of Henry Ford II sold in 1978. This suggest that it may have been conceived as a pair to be sold in China.
Both carry this maker’s mark M&P under crown often seen on musical boxes, recently on the box sold in the Bayreuth Collection, Christie’s Paris, 9 to 22 November 2023, lot 57 which show very similar gold chasing, and can be attributed to Hanau. Therefore it would seem that although the musical and automaton movement was made in Geneva, it was probably acquired by a Hanau goldsmith to be set in a box.
A HANAU MAKER
Despite Lorenz Seelig’s research (op. cit. 2014) which cleared out the historical misattribution of Hanau pieces to Geneva, many goldsmiths are still unidentified. However Seelig showed that there was a strong bond between the two cities who not only ‘exchanged’ makers, such as the famous Jean George Rémond working in Geneva but born and trained in Hanau, but also had an active commerce. Interestingly Sotheby's presented in New York, 23 October 2006 under lot 124 a similar automaton box marked Augustin-André Héguin, Paris, 1786 or 1787 but unenamelled and with slightly different chased motifs. This helps to confirm that in both instances the movement as well as the automaton figure were made in Geneva but that the gold box was made by a local maker. fitted in a Parisian gold box.
TIGHTROPE DANCING
Tightrope dancing exists since Antiquity although it remained confined to the fairs until the second half of the 18th century when it entered theatres. Indeed it took London and Paris by storm certainly because of the enthusiasm of the kings and the Courts for the discipline; even the comte d’Artois (the future Charles X) took lesson and was apparently quite talented.
By the 18th century, circus and dance influenced each other so that the tightrope dancer became assimilated to a ballerina with tutu while wearing plumes as a headgear in the tradition of saltimbanque and circus performers. In Paris, the Grands-Danseurs et Sauteurs du Roy (the Great Dancers and Jumper of the King), founded in 1753 by Jean-Baptiste Nicolet (1687-1762), comprised actors, dancers and agility artists in equal numbers who received a royal privilege in 1772, and thereby became incredibly famous.
By the end of the 18th century, rope dancing had transformed into a "high wire act" and was an important act in stage shows. It was theatrical, providing opportunities for sequence of skits with dramatic postures, costumes and accessories. Performers such as Signora Violante (1682-1741), Marina Rossi (fl. 1768-1776) Madame Saqui (1786-1866) to name a few, all contributed to transform tightrope walking into a theatrical performance. Its popularity in high society certainly explained that the figure was used to create an automaton.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Clarke, Swiss Gold Boxes : Myth or Reality in Going for Gold, Craftmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, in Going for Gold, Craftmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, 2014, p. 61-73.
L. Seelig, Gold Box Production in Hanau: The Extended Workbench of Frankfurt and its Trade Fair in Going for Gold, Craftmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, 2014, p. 74-91.
A. Chapuis and E. Gélis, Le monde des automates: Etude historique et technique. 2 vols. Paris, 1928. Ill. 326.
G. von Habsburg-Lothringen, Gold boxes from the collection of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert, 1983. 125 p., ill. Cat. no. 2, p. 21.
Important English & Continental Silver & Objects of Vertu. Sotheby's, New York, October 23, 2006 (N08236). Lot 124, pp. 78-81.
C. Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Vol. I. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1991, cat. no. 121, pp. 348-9.
T. Schroder, ed. The Gilbert Collection at the V&A. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, p. 61, plate 46.
H. Zech, Gold Boxes. Masterpieces from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection. London: V&A Publishing, 2015, pp. 128-129, no. 46.
T. Schroder, Gold boxes : from the Gilbert collection : an exhibition, Los Angeles : Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.