Rare French Bisque Automaton "Crying Child with Her Broken Doll" by Leopold Lambert

Live Auction

20" (51 cm.) Standing upon a velvet-covered wooden base with tasseled edges is a bisque head girl,having the narrowly-sculpted blue glass eyes and heavy eyelids of a sobbing child,painted brown curly lashes,brush-stroked and feathered brows,accented eye corners and nostrils,closed mouth modeled as though open with shaded and outlined lips,defined tongue,row of sculpted upper teeth,pierced ears,auburn mohair wig over cork pate,French carton torso and legs,wire upper arms,bisque forearms,organdy crepe de chine over rose silk dress with Alencon lace collar,socks,silk shoes,velvet and silk bonnet; she holds a bisque head of a broken doll in her right hand while the doll̴s body lies on the floor. Condition: generally excellent,music and mechanism function well. Marks: 211 Depose Tete Jumeau 4 (and artist check marks,on doll) L.B. (key),Comments: Leopold Lambert,circa 1892,with uniquely sculpted head for this model commissioned from Emile Jumeau. When wound,music plays,the doll turns her head from side to side,alternately looking at her broken doll held in her right hand,and wiping away tears with the handkerchief held in her left hand. Value Points: rare model vividly portrays an enchanting childhood scene,the doll̴s face perfectly capturing the child̴s sadness at her broken doll. The model has its rarely-preserved original tear.