$5,000
Sold
sold
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Description
16" (41 cm.) Standing upon a velvet-covered base is a bisque-headed girl with blue glass paperweight insets eyes, dark eyeliner, painted lashes, brush-stroked and feathered brows, accented nostrils and eye corners, closed mouth, shaded and outlined lips, pierced ears, blonde mohair wig over cork pate, carton torso and legs, wire upper arms, bisque forearms. Condition: generally excellent. Marks: Depose Tete Jumeau Bte SGDG 2. Comments: Roullet et Decamps, circa 1890, the automaton appeared in their catalog of that era as model 303, identified as "Cuisiniere", made in this one size only. When wound, music plays and the girl turns her head from side to side and plucks the iron grill she holds in her arms, as though the grill was a violin. Value Points: all original and well-functioning with lovely music, the girl wears original silk and velvet "scullery maid" costume and coiffe, as she dreams of a life outside the drudgery of her own.