RARE AUTOMATON DOUBLE SINGING BIRD JARDINIÈRE MUSIC BOX BY BLAISE BONTEMS,1870-1880, Paris. Bird with turquoise plumage, articulated head, beak and tail controlled by going-barrel movement with bellows and whistle for birdsong,, sits atop arrangement of artificial flowers on a perch, when activated its head swivels, flaps its tail and moves its beak, second bird sits in nest. Estimate $6,000-8,000
NOTE: Blaise Bontems (1814 - 1893) was a noted Parisian specialist in the manufacture of automaton singing birds and the first of a dynasty of automaton manufacturers, which included his son Charles Jules and his grandson Lucien. Bontems' birds were famous for the realism of their song
Additional flowers have been added to the arrangement at some prior point; this is apparently a common American practice
