'THE TIGHTROPE DANCER' SWISS | A VERY RARE AND FINE GOLD, ENAMEL AND PEARL-SET MUSICAL MANDOLIN WITH AUTOMATON SCENE OF A TIGHTROPE WALKER IN ASSOCIATED DESOUTTER BOX CIRCA 1810

'THE TIGHTROPE DANCER'

SWISS

A VERY RARE AND FINE GOLD, ENAMEL AND PEARL-SET MUSICAL MANDOLIN WITH AUTOMATON SCENE OF A TIGHTROPE WALKER IN ASSOCIATED DESOUTTER BOX

CIRCA 1810

gilded full plate movement, pin barrel for the music, the automaton driven by cams and levers, gold case, the mandolin's sound board with translucent red guilloché enamel and gold foliate highlights, pearl surround to the decoratively pierced and engraved centre, black and white enamel key board, red guilloché enamel head, gold strings, the back with alternating tapered panels of red guilloché enamel and champlevé enamels of black and blue, the centre with black enamel heightened with a gold vine branch, opening to reveal a polychrome enamel painted lakeside scene with a castle in the background, the vari-colour gold tightrope dancer holding his balancing pole and dancing on a rope secured between the pediments of two vari-colour gold urns, aperture for winding, the whole suspended from chains, with a later Desoutter fitted box

length 66mm, width 26mm