French Animated Singing Birds "Bosquet avec Oiseaux" by Bontems

Live Auction

30" (76 cm.) x 22"w. x 12"d. Arranged upon an ebony wooden high base is a naturalistic setting featuring a large leafy tree that is populated with 17 colorful singing birds,and a butterfly,while nearby is a glass waterfall and pond. Movement and Music. The highly animated vignette includes birds looking down from above,some turning side-to-side and others pecking at the ground or drinking from the water pond. Twelve of the birds sing,with animation of the head,beak and wings,and two of the birds flit from branch to branch. The butterfly has wings a-flutter,and the waterfall appears to pour forth. Innumerable animations. Blaise Bontems,Paris,circa 1840-1850. The extremely early mechanism contains two small bellows which provide the lifelike chirping sounds,and a French clockwork motor driving a very long arbor that carries numerous wood,brass and steel-pegged cams,as well as turned wooden pulleys that create all the animations. The wooden cams and pulleys,combined with the general hand-crafted design of the mechanism,indicate that this is from the very earliest of Bontems production. Although,from 1849 onward,Bontems had advertised "mechanical pictures,musicians,and a new system for tightrope walkers" it is for these splendid bird scenes that his name is most remembered,although some critics of the time cuttingly noted that the birds were out of proportion to the tree,choosing to ignore the intricacy,fancy and romance of the piece.