$7,500
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sold
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Description
28" (71 cm.) Ebony-black complexioned man with pressed leather head,brown glass eyes,leather
eyelids,open mouth with double row of teeth,fleecy black hair under wrapped silk turban,carton
torso and legs,painted boots,paper mache hands,is posed standing with a wooden harp held in
his hands,wearing lavish silk and velvet costume with metallic braid trim. When wound,music
plays,he regally turns his head from side to side,strums the harp,and his eyelids open and close
in a dreamy manner. Condition: generally excellent,mechanism and music function well.
Comments: Jean Roullet,Paris,circa 1870,the early no-base automata by Roullet were made for a
short period only as indicated by an early catalog of that firm. Value Points: well-preserved early
model automaton depicting a harpist of the aristocratic court,with rare leather head.