Singing Bird

The very pinnacle of naturalism, the Enlightenment was obsessed with birdsong. Pierre Jaquet-Droz was no doubt also charmed by their gentle melodies in the spring and summer, but above all the young watchmaker had a feeling for and was able to capture the spirit of the times. In this period, singing birds began to adorn table clocks, snuffboxes, urns, bird cages and pocket watches. His mechanical creations are animated by incredible miniature automata combined with a system of bellows and cylinder pistons that reproduced prodigious birdsong.