$12,000
Sold
sold
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Description
16" (41 cm.) h. seated. 15" piano length. Seated upon a wooden stool in front of her piano is an elegant lady posed as though ready for her performance, the lady with bisque head, blue glass eyes, closed mouth, nicely painted features, pierced ears, blonde mohair wig, carton torso and legs, metal hands, is exquisitely costumed in embroidered tulle with six graduated tiers. The piano is of fine rosewood veneers with ebonized finish borders and sides, and bone and ebony keyboard, and is decorated with ormolu trim and basket of flowers. When wound, the lady pianist turns her head and nods, while her forearms move sideways across the keyboard, and independently up and down, while the four-tune music box plays. Condition: generally excellent, good strong music. Marks: F.G. 3 (doll). Comments: Gustave Vichy, Paris, circa 1878, an early model from the illustrious firm, possibly created for and exhibited at the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris where Vichy exhibited his automata for the first time. Value Points: the luxury parlor automata felicitously combines its pleasing centerpiece beauty with appealing motions and music.