Double automaton "Singing Birds" in a cylindrical cage with a crank factoryNot for sale

The automaton is made in the form of a cylindrical domed cage made of gilded brass rods - smooth and twisted, with a “rope” profile, reinforced with two chased decorative belts with laurel ornaments. The dome is completed with a polished brass ball with a movable ring-handle, a signature detail of the Bontem workshop. The round pedestal is decorated with a relief chased frieze of acanthus shoots and rocaille cartouches and a completed profiled plinth.
Inside the cage, on the bottom, covered with beige fabric, there is a pair of mechanical singing birds with plumage made of natural feathers - finches with a pink-purple chest: whitish-cream plumage with bright carmine “spotting” on the chest, a dark head with white streaks and a dark conical beak in one bird, and lighter, with a greenish-bluish tint, plumage in second; tails and wings are dark. One bird is mounted on a brass crossbar, the second is at the foot of the stand.
The crossbar and stand are entwined with a garland of golden-beige silk leaves and a “vine” cord with a red “berry”; At the base of the birds there are drapes made of silk leaves, masking the landing nodes.
The spring is wound by a crank handle with a turned wooden handle inserted into a socket on the side surface of the pedestal - a sign of a reinforced mechanism designed for two voices and active plastic. When starting, the birds “sing” in turns: they turn, flap their wings and tails, open their beaks; the sound is produced by a cam-controlled bellows mechanism hidden in the pedestal.
About the workshop
Blaise Bontem - the founder of the famous dynasty of Parisian automatists (including his son Charles-Jules and grandson Lucien) and the leading 19th-century specialist on mechanical singing birds; his automata were famous for their impeccable mechanics and realistic “singing”. The item fully corresponds to the workshop's signature designs: a spherical finish with a ring, a combination of smooth and twisted rods, a chased frieze of the pedestal and birds planted on a crossbar with silk flora.
Condition
The item is in good preservation, with traces of noble aging:
Cage and pedestal: bright, even gilding; rods without deformations; the embossed frieze is clearly legible.
Birds: plumage preserved, spectacular colors (carmine breast, cream and greenish-bluish feather); slight ruffles and local abrasions of the feathers on the heads and tails; glass eyes and beaks are intact.
Silk flora: leaves faded to golden beige with edge wear; "berry" is preserved.
Bottom fabric: intact, with minor traces of age.
Complete set: there is a crank handle with a wooden handle.