A delightful and incredibly rare miniature Singing bird cage in its original case by Flajoulot. Still in its original leather carry case, this cage is of a tiny size. The movement was designed by Flajoulot for this cage and isn't a birdbox movement he has used. The bird in particular really stands out here, beautiful to look at, and again, is not the type of bird youd see in a birdbox or other bigger bird cages.

The bird sings beautifully too, as all Flajoulot boxes do, and in our opinion, his birds sing far better than his contempories, Bontems or Griesbaum.

The movement stamped 'Flajoulot Paris'

Technically, Flajoulot singing bird boxes are advanced in two key areas.  The use of a back-mounted governor with lengthened endless has some positive regulatory merit, as with a going-barrel drive, this design helps smoothes the slight loss of power at the very end of the spring wind-life. The other area is the case design - cast and tooled to perfection.  Closer to perfect than any other maker at this period, the process of gilding is enhancing, not hiding, the consistent quality seen by this French workshop. 

Using the very reliable Flajoulot movement with the highly efficient centrifuge governor.

Superb hand painted scenes on the case of the piece.

For a Flajoulot singing bird cage of very similar form, but with a simple unpainted gilt base, see Flights of Fancy by Sharon and Christian Bailly pp.366

This is an incredibly rare cage, not of a type we have handled before. in 30 years of dealing. You see a lot of the Bontems and Griesbaum cages, of simpler form and twive the size. 
This piece is truly special.
 

Circa 1895