Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
February 16, 1822
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 118
Notes:
Presumably a version of a singing bird box (boîte à oiseau chanteur in French), a box, usually rectangular-shaped, which contains within a miniature automaton singing bird concealed below an oval lid and activated by means of an operating lever. Its origins are found in the city of Geneva and its invention in 1784/85 is attributed to Pierre Jaquet-Droz. Wikipedia, s.v. Singing bird box
Charles Willson Peale's son Benjamin Franklin Peale (1795-1870) was born in the Museum and became an assistant to his father in 1820 and managed it after Charles Willson Peale's death in 1827. He was adept in machine making and served as an employee and officer of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854. He was known for his mechanical genius and the "curious speaking toy" he placed in the Museum. Robert Patterson, "An Obituary Notice of Franklin Peale," in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 11, no. 81 (Jan 1869): 597-604
