$8,000
Sold
sold
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Description
30" (76 cm.) Standing upon a velvet covered flat base is a tall slender performing jester with paper mache head having colorfully-painted complexion and clown decorations, brown glass sleep eyes with leather eyelids, hinged jaw with two rows of teeth, mohair bi-color wig in theatrical arrangement, carton torso and muscular slender legs, wire upper arms, paper mache hands. He is standing in dramatic pose, his legs braced, his torso leaning backward, while holding a mandolin in his arm. When wound, music plays, he nods and pivots his head, his eyes blink open and closed, and his jaw opens and closes as though singing, while he strums the mandolin with his right hand. Condition: generally excellent, music and mechanism function well, possible light touch-up on face, original costume albeit silk of jacket is restored. Comments: Gustav Vichy, Paris, circa 1885, a deposed model of the firm, appearing in their catalog as #414. Value Points: few examples of this model are known to exist, the jester clown has wonderful expression, antics, wig and costume.