$4,500
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sold
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Description
24" (61 cm.) Standing upon a velvet-covered wooden base is a bisque-head man with blue glass paperweight eyes, open mouth, blonde mohair wig over cork pate, very slender elongated torso and legs, bisque forearms. Dressed in a foppish manner in gold and black satin with lace trim, jewelry and matching bicorn hat, he is holding a cigarette holder in his right hand, and a ribbon-wrapped cane in his left. When wound, music plays and he turns his head and nods in an elaborate manner, drawing the cigarette holder to his mouth as though to inhale. Condition: generally excellent, music and mechanisms function well except the smoking system does not work. Marks: Depose Tete Jumeau Bte SGDG 2 (head). L. Lambert Jouets Automatiques, Article Riche (gilt lettered red paper label on underbase) (paper tune label on underbase). Comments: Leopold Lambert, circa 1890, the dashing gentleman is presented as a 19th century re-creation of "L'Incroyable", a fashionable aristocratic movement of the late 18th century in which rebellious young men appeared in highly exaggerated and outrageous costume. Known as Les Incroyables (the incredible ones), the name came to signify the entire rebellious movement of the time.