Pierre Jaquet-Droz, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, is the author of three of the most fabulous automata : musician girl, writer and draughtsman. He also invented the singing bird with a sound mechanism that mimicked the whistle.
Jaquet-Droz teamed from 1769 with two talented mechanics : his son Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. The 1780s were the top period of their business which had its main workshop in Geneva and a branch in London and subcontracted some realizations to Henri Maillardet.
A clock with bird cage comes in the sale of November 8 and 9 by Antiquorum in Geneva, lot 578 estimated in excess of CHF 200K. It is not signed but its attribution to Jaquet-Droz et Leschot is almost certain. The details of the design enable to establish some chronology of the automata, and this piece is dated around 1785.
The bird in painted metal is moving beak, tail and wings and rotating. It jumps from one perch to another through a lever whose speed exceeds the persistence of vision. The movement of a painted waterfall is another refinement of this trademark. The animation is released every three hours and can also be triggered manually.
On June 26, 2011, Rouillac sold for € 150K including premium a piece with two birds for which the clock under the cage is visible only when the system is hanging.
Jaquet-Droz teamed from 1769 with two talented mechanics : his son Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. The 1780s were the top period of their business which had its main workshop in Geneva and a branch in London and subcontracted some realizations to Henri Maillardet.
A clock with bird cage comes in the sale of November 8 and 9 by Antiquorum in Geneva, lot 578 estimated in excess of CHF 200K. It is not signed but its attribution to Jaquet-Droz et Leschot is almost certain. The details of the design enable to establish some chronology of the automata, and this piece is dated around 1785.
The bird in painted metal is moving beak, tail and wings and rotating. It jumps from one perch to another through a lever whose speed exceeds the persistence of vision. The movement of a painted waterfall is another refinement of this trademark. The animation is released every three hours and can also be triggered manually.
On June 26, 2011, Rouillac sold for € 150K including premium a piece with two birds for which the clock under the cage is visible only when the system is hanging.
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