Musical box with automata; late 19th century.
Brass, bronze and carved wood.
French-Swiss machinery mounted on Spanish Alfonsino style furniture,
The machinery is in perfect condition, two combs are missing and there are faults on the rollers .
Electrified in later period.
In working order.
Measurements: 85 x 74 x 44 cm.
Modern music boxes could be of any size, from small enough to fit in a pocket to examples that took up the space of a piece of furniture. They were made by artisan watchmakers, and during the 19th century most of their production was concentrated in Switzerland. The first 18th-century cases used metal discs, the system being changed to cylinders after the Napoleonic wars.
This type of object was very popular from the 19th century onwards, with a great variety of models, factories, materials, etc., normally trying to hide the mechanism that moves them in order to surprise the spectator and often accompanied by a musical mechanism. However, they were always intended for the upper classes, since their construction and design required high quality and mastery due to the delicate machinery and materials chosen.