A German silver mechanical Singing Bird box in the manner of Karl Griesbaum, the rectangular box...

A German silver mechanical Singing Bird box in the manner of Karl Griesbaum, the rectangular box with bombe base, removable key drawer to reverse and raised on corner bracket feet, elaborately cast throughout with putti musicians, putti playing with floral garlands and further bird, flower and foliate scroll motifs, with four scrolled supports above leading to a pheasant surmount, the key-wind mechanism activating the singing bird, having bright blue plumage and emerging from the inset oval lid, the key also with bird finial. Impressed 800 with the reichsmark of a crescent moon and crown and a further indistinct mark. Maximum height measures 9 inches (23 cm).   

The box is accompanied by the book 'Mechanical Singing-bird Tabatieres' by Geoffrey T Mason, 2000. A very similar box is illustrated on page 158 in a poster advertisement from 1930, which features a range of Karl Griesbaum singing bird boxes.