A stunning and rare mottled tortoiseshell, gold, silver pictorial enamel singing bird box, by Charles Bruguier. When wound and the gold start/stop slid to the right, the bird lid opens and the bird magically appears, moving beak, turning head, bobbing tailfeather, flapping wings and moving whole body from to side, perfectly synchronised to the birdsong, before drawing to a close when the bird disappears and the lid closes. The bird with finely banded and layered feathered plumage in green, turquoise, red and lime green, all accompanied by flashes green iridescence cleverly chevron-layered into the plumage, rising up through the finely pierced 14kt gold grille with exceptionally executed tooled scrollwork, highly polished border with raised edge, lid interior with a painted enamel study of flowers, on the blue enamel ground. Signed in Bruguier's hand to one of the spring loafers "Charles Bruguier", Stamped in upper case to bottom plate by winding ratchet C. BRUGUIER Á GENEVÉ and numbered 73. making this one of his earliest boxes, and can date it accurately to 1825. Bird lid top with painted enamel view of Lake Geneva, with a bridge, and boats, and part of the city, clouds drifting across the sky, with the snow-capped mountain range, finished with tooled border all to gold lid, and silver bezel, in highly polished tortoiseshell case with the mottling streaks to lid top, capturing glimpses of the movement within through the lighter shades, start/stop to front-right and hidden key compartment to rear, plain polished underside. Fusee singing bird boxes are not all gold, silver, silver-gilt or enamel. Charles Bruguier started with the tortoiseshell-cased model, and here it is.. Swiss circa 1825