OSVALDO EN LIBERTÉ #3 (english version, free access) : What about this fantastic « Canary » (Sotheby's, June 11th, New York) ?
Osvaldo Patrizzi, « the » international expert regarding watchmaking fields, historical or contemporary, explains how he has fallen in love with a little bird of 0,47 inches – for sure a singing canary made for Chinese Emperor Qianlong. Really, a great honor to welcome him in our open-line pages... ▶▶▶ SOTHEBY'S« The Canary » : A Unique Singing Bird in a Perfume Vial créated by Pierre …
Osvaldo Patrizzi, « the » international expert regarding watchmaking fields, historical or contemporary, explains how he has fallen in love with a little bird of 0,47 inches – for sure a singing canary made for Chinese Emperor Qianlong. Really, a great honor to welcome him in our open-line pages...
▶▶▶ SOTHEBY'S« The Canary » : A Unique Singing Bird in a Perfume Vial créated by Pierre Jaquet-Droz... ◉◉◉◉ SHORT DESCRIPTION BY SOTHEBY'S : Perfume vial with Singing Bird and watch made by Jacquet Droz, Leschot & Frisard, Geneva, circa 1785-86, sold to James Cox in 1787, created on the principle of the Serinette, for the Chinese market, (Qianlong [1711-1799] Qing dynasty). 
◉◉◉◉ SOTHEBY'S WATCH & CLOCK DEPARTMENT HAS MANAGED to delight and surprise us, once again. The horological world is still talking about the results and the buzz is still in the air, six months later, by the auction of one of the most complicated watches in the world - the "Henry Graves" produced by Patek Philippe in 1933 and sold by Sotheby's Geneva, November 14 of last year, for a record amount of CHF 23'237'000. Now another horological monument, "the Canary", will be presented at auction on June 11 in New York. This masterpiece is part of a collection of 21 form watches and musical snuff boxes with automatons - part of an important American collection. These pieces are of immense importance to me, not only because of the quality and rarity of the objects, but because one of these objects reminds me of a tale that I personally experienced in 1980 / 81. During the early 80’s, I was often in the Big Apple, since I was thinking about opening an office here. The echo of some of our brilliant sales results from my auction house in Geneva and Hong Kong had crossed the ocean and often, during my travels in the USA, my local agent organized appointments to visit clients and collectors interested in meeting me. So it was this day. Madame “X” received me in a beautiful, impressive apartment on the first floor of a Victorian-style building in one of New York’s finest avenues. I still remember the entranceway, adorned by two huge columns of green marble. The apartment was decorated with fine Louis XV furnishings, Impressionist paintings and other fine objects creating an ambiance of elegance and harmony. She accompanied me into a room as large as a village square and, after asking me, very politely, if I wanted something to drink, came towards me with a tray full of boxes and form watches. On this tray, there were at least US$ 15,000,000 of objects d'art. ◉◉◉◉ I WAS SHOWN MUSICAL SNUFF BOXES and watches of different shapes in gold and enamel, some with automata, decorated with neo-classical scenes by the finest Geneva artists from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th centuries. These included precious form watches such as mandolins, lyres, lorgnettes and melons, as well as a splendid automaton snuffbox, "the Magician", in perfect condition, which alone was worth over a million dollars at this time. These objects impressed me, especially because several would have been able to complete the “incomplete pairs” of watches and snuff boxes that I had begun to gather for an important collector in Hong Kong, Lord Sandberg (whose collection I sold at auction many years later, in 2002). Among these wonders was an unopened etui, in the form of a flask. Madame “X” had been saving this one for last, and she was waiting patiently, as though waiting for a sign from me, visibly amused by my anxious gaze and curiosity. She calmly handed me the case and asked me to open it. There exists objects, which for their artistic value and uniqueness, are worth, just on their own, that of an entire collection. I immediately recognized this flask - decorated in gold and enamel, in the renaissance style with spangles in paillons d’or, as I had seen it illustrated in the horological books of Alfred Chapuis and in books dedicated to watches made for the Chinese market. I had recently visited the Forbidden City, in Beijing, in 1980, and had admired a similar flask, in a small part of the exhibition that had just opened to the public. It was nearing the end of the Cultural Revolution and not many of these objects were displayed in a worthy manner. ◉◉◉◉ HOWEVER, NONE OF THE DESCRIPTIONS OR ILLUSTRATIONS in these horological books indicated or hinted at the extraordinary features of this piece. The flask features a three-dimensional singing bird, or "Canary" on a flowery branch, in a small oval frame adorned with pearls and rubies, but even more unique, her singing is created mechanically through a six pipe organ. These organ pipes follow the outline of the bottle and reproduce the melodious song of this particular bird. In a space of only 16 cm high, we find one cylinder with pins, 6 organ pipes made of tin, one pipe made of brass, and a bellows which sent compressed air to six valves. The cams created the movements of the bird, and in this small space there is even the movement for the watch. I was surprised, for the dating of this serinette is circa 1785. According to tradition, it was Jacob Frisard, another Geneva specialist in the manufacture of singing birds and collaborator of Jacquet Droz & Leschot, who invented the sliding piston - a system that uses, to modulate the sound, a trap and a piston, as in a trumpet. The sliding piston was used in the vast majority of songbirds after 1785/90. However, this complex mechanical system of a miniature organ to produce the song reproduced by this Canary in this flask, is prior to or comptempory with this date. Madame “X” must have been amused for days after seeing the expression of wonder on my face, but for me it was like searching for the Golden Fleece and finding it. I was willing to do anything to have this flask. I offered her an exorbitant sum for the time, and I tried to convince her that an object of this importance and rarity should be accessible to the general public and not remain locked in a safe! But in vain! She told me something that, at the time, dashed my hopes of ever again having the flask in my hands. She told me, "this collection I will leave to my children and it will be up to them to decide what to do with it”. Madame “X” recently passed away, and the collection with the Canary (“my Canary”) is now being offered at auction! ◉◉◉◉ I THINK AND WOULD BE WILLING TO BET that this masterpiece was also part of the 1930s - 1940s collection of Dr Gustave Loup. It is thanks to him that we have the immense pleasure today of admiring these horological masterpieces of Swiss, French and English watchmakers created for the Celestial Empire, in our museums and private collections which might have disappeared during the various revolutions throughout Chinese history. This flask, in perfect condition, and the collection of snuff boxes and form watches cited in this article are described and illustrated in the catalogue for the auction of Sotheby's on 11 June in New York. During the 18th century, especially in France, teaching a canary to sing a certain melody was a game and hobby of the ladies of the high aristocracy. True “bel canto” competitions were organized between them and those whose canary had a more modulated and perfect song won the recital. ◉◉◉◉ REMINDER AUBOUT THE SERINETTE : Small mechanical organ, pipes and cylinder, played with the help of a crank, to teach melodies to canaries and other birds. The Serinette was said to have been invented in Nancy in the 18th century, and was first known as turlutaine. The tonality or pitch is very high and is played without further accompaniment. The bird was trained by covering its cage with a veil, while repeating the mechanical melody several times so that the bird would begin to imitate the sounds coming from the serinette. By Osvaldo Patrizzi, consultant watchmaking at Sotheby's. 
◉◉◉◉ FRENCH & ITALIAN VERSION : Business Montres, April 14th 2015. 
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