$32,000
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sold
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Description
24" (61 cm.) A papier-mache lady with slender face
and refined features,brown glass eyes with
articulated eyelids,long brunette flowing hair,has
papier-mache body posed in kneeling manner on a
wooden three-stepped platform with marbleized
finish and carpet,alongside a wooden string harp
with elegant shape ornamented with a figural head
of an Egyptian lady. She is wearing ivory silk
crepe de chine gown with tulle veil,jewelry and
head dress,and has painted sandals. When wound,she
elegantly plucks the harp,her right arm moving
laterally to the instrument as her right jointed
wrist bends to "pluck" the strings. Then her left
arm rises and falls vertically in an arc.
Meanwhile her head turns and nods as though
gazing at the strings and then at her audience,her
breastplate heaves slowly in a breathing
motion,and her eyelids open and close. There are
two tunes. Condition: generally
excellent,mechanism and music function well.
Comments: Gustav Vichy,circa 1890,from his deposed
luxury series,this being model 661 described as
"Egyptian a genoux". Value Points: the rarity of
the wonderful automaton is rivaled by its superb
presentation and luxury quality of music and
movements; few are known to exist.