Early 19th Century Carved Wooden Mechanical Scene

Live Auction

8" (20 cm.) x 5" platform. 5" wooden figures. Posed upon a wooden base of exotic rosewood with gilded finish are five carved wooden figures, each with well-detailed facial features, hair and costumes and having jointed arms. The figures are attached to wires beneath the platform, and when the push/pull knob at the front is worked, the figures play their musical instruments or march about. Generally excellent, painted finishes on figures (few rubs), mechanism functions well. Early 1800s, probably French, a rare early toy with simple yet charming mechanism.