Antique Viennese Ormolu Piano Musical Jewellery Box G Brehmer

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Antique Viennese Ormolu Piano Musical Jewellery Box G Brehmer

About the Item

A superb Viennese ormolu piano musical jewellery box, the underside stamped with the makers name, G.Brehmer, Vienna Austria, circa 1870 in date. This delightful casket is beautifully decorated with striking embossed decoration and it has a beautiful applied ribbon and wreath tied scrolling trophy mount on the lid, the music box is contained in the rear of the piano and the front is for your best jewellery. It is a lovely piece which apart from its functionality is also a very decorative one. Condition: In excellent working condition, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 10 x width 20 x depth 13. Dimensions in inches: Height 4 inches x width 8 inches x depth 5 inches. Ormolu (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze. The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-colored veneer known as 'gilt bronze'. The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object. No true ormolu was produced in France after around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt (also known as vermeil). Music box (also musical box) is a 19th-20th century automatic musical instrument that produces sounds by the use of a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc so as to pluck the tuned teeth (or lamellae) of a steel comb. They were developed from musical snuff boxes of the 18th century and called carillons à musique. Some of the more complex boxes also have a tiny drum and/or small bells, in addition to the metal comb. For most of the 19th century, the bulk of music box production was concentrated in Switzerland, building upon a strong watchmaking tradition. The first music box factory was opened there in 1815 by Jérémie Recordon and Samuel Junod. There were also a few manufacturers in Bohemia and Germany. By the end of the 19th century, some of the European makers had opened factories in the United States. The cylinders were normally made of metal and powered by a spring. In some of the costlier models, the cylinders could be removed to change melodies, thanks to an invention by Paillard in 1862, which was perfected by Metert of Geneva in 1879. In some exceptional models, there were four springs, to provide continuous play for up to three hours.

Dimensions:
Height: 3.94 in (10 cm)Width: 7.88 in (20 cm)Depth: 5.12 in (13 cm)
Place of Origin:
Germany
Period:
1870-1879
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1870
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 077721stDibs: LU95065856703