Automaton · Genève
Pistolet lance-parfum à musique
VerifiedThe stock is decorated with translucent red and blue enamel over guilloché, enriched with gold flakes. Half-pearls emphasize its shape. Two rectangular medallions are engraved with a hunting scene. At the end of the octagonal barrel, pressing the trigger causes a seven-petaled engraved gold flower to emerge. The corolla opens, allowing the fragrance to escape from the pierced pistil. Inside the stock is the musical mechanism.
Technical facts
- Inventory number
- MIH IV-313
- Object type
- Automaton
- Place of production
- Genève
- Dating
- c. 1810
- Dimensions (catalogue)
- dimensions d'exposition: (ouvert) 63.0 x 127.0 x 20.0 mm; poids: 104.500 g
Historical significance
- The stock is decorated with translucent red and blue enamel over guilloché, enriched with gold flakes. Half-pearls emphasize its shape. Two rectangular medallions are engraved with a hunting scene. At the end of the octagonal barrel, pressing the trigger causes a seven-petaled engraved gold flower to emerge. The corolla opens, allowing the fragrance to escape from the pierced pistil. Inside the stock is the musical mechanism.
- Perfume pistols with similar decoration sometimes contain a watch in the stock or a singing bird. Some are even equipped with two barrels. Along with snuff boxes and perfume bottles, this type of object is characteristic of Geneva workshops specializing in luxury items, such as Piguet & Meylan, Moulinié, Bautte & Cie, Capt & Piguet, and the Rochat brothers.
Photographs
Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.
Sources & references
- Musée international d'horlogerie, online collection record, inv. IV-313: https://collection.mih.ch/fr/collection/item/33489/
Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.