A very nice compact antique music box with drum and bells made by L’Epee in France in c. 1880.

The fully serviced movement features six saucer bells and a drum struck by 9 beaters, and it plays a selection of 6 mainly operatic tunes with a very bright and lively air, including The Wedding March by Strauss, as detailed on the replacement tunesheet.

The case is very elegant and of charmingly compact proportion for a box of these characteristics: it is veneered in rosewood with tulipwood and ebony banding and moudling skirting around the base, together with an inlay to the lid of various woods depicting a bird eating berries with a dragonfly hovering nearby.

All told, a very bright and jolly box in excellent condition.