Not for sale
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Songbird · Hall I
Bird family: pair of songbirds with nest and chickNot for sale
550 000 ₽
This bird is not for sale.
Description
A touching example of the French automaton school: a rectangular cage with an arched dome and a ball top on a painted pedestal with applied flower garlands. Inside there is a genre scene of a “bird family”: on a perch there is a bird with iridescent green plumage, at the foot there is a yellow-green bird, and in a nest made of natural materials there is a chick with an open beak and an egg. The bottom imitates a gravel path. When hatched, the birds come to life: they sing, turn their heads, flutter their wings, and the chick “begs for food” - a typical dramaturgy of Bontham family automata.
Mechanism passport
| Type | spring cam automaton with pneumatic voice module (bellows + whistle). |
|---|---|
| Automatic figures | three (bird on a perch, bird at the nest, chick in the nest) - cf. with three-figure Bontham automata. |
| Plant | hole on the face of the pedestal; the key is not shown in the photo. |
| Control | flat steel “start/stop” lever on the bottom. |
| Marking | double stamp “FRANCE” on the bottom (export marking). |
| Height | ≈ 57–58 cm (according to the tape measure in the photo). |
| Supports | four turned wooden legs. |
| Condition | As Found - paint loss and pedestal crack, base crack, feathers and nest with age dust and loss; the mechanism requires prevention and key selection. |
