The first automatons appeared in Geneva in the late 18th century and some were fitted with repeating or musical mechanisms and were highly appreciated works of art, not only in Europe, but also by Chinese and Ottoman dignitaries.
This singing bird box is most probably the work of the Bruguier workshop who created a particular style of box and movement hugely recognisable.

The Bruguier were a family of well-known singing bird makers, according to Sharon Bailly, Oiseaux de bonheur, Geneva, 2001, founded by Charles-Abraham Bruguier senior (1788-1862). Charles Bruguier senior was the son of a clockmaker and became himself a clockmaker. In 1815, he moved to London, where his son, also named Charles Abraham, was born in 1818. However after 1823, the family returned to Geneva where Bruguier first began making singing birds improving the movements so that the length of the song was extended whilst at the same time slightly simplifying them to facilitate production. His son Charles-Abraham (1818-1891) worked with him until 1843 when he moved to the Terreaux de Chantepoulet, then rue Rousseau, rue Sismondi and finally rue des Pâquis, 5.

Jacques Bruguier (1801-1873) was not the son but the son-in-law of the celebrated Charles Abraham Bruguier Senior, despite having the same surname which prompted Sharon Bailly to suggest that they were probably related. Jacques was born in Geneva in June 1801, son of Jean-Abraham Bruguier and his wife Rose Lamon. He trained in Geneva although the family had moved to the Ardèche region of France and by 1852, he was working with Charles-Abraham Bruguier as a maker of singing bird movements; His wife Jacqueline was a pinner of music box cylinders.