Passed
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Description
26" (66 cm.) An ebony-black paper-mache man with richly-painted complexion,glass eyes,paper-mache hands,torso and lower legs,is standing upon a velvet-covered wooden platform,appearing to be holding a velvet-covered tray containing a paper-mache pear and peach.. He in dressed is rich silks and velvets.Movements and Music. Appearing to be standing before a prospective customer,the seller nods his head as though bowing,nonchalantly turns his head side-to-side,and blinks his eyes. His peddler tray,attached to his torso by metal rods,leads to the hidden mechanism. The pear and peach have hidden hinges at the back,and they alternately open to reveal two quite different "surprises": the serenity of a twirling doll,versus the menacing expression of the monkey which turns its head,blinks its eyelids and moves its lips. There are nine movements and two musical tunes. Leopold Lambert,circa 1885. The automata was an international favorite,offered in the 1888 London catalog of Silber and Fleming,and creating the question of when,actually,do the "surprise" doll and monkey begin their performances? Is it when the fruit lid opens? Or have they been secretly "dancing in the dark". A.J.L. Wright,writing in the Journal of the Musical Box Society of Great Britain in 1966,gives the answer: "rather as one assumes that the light in a refrigerator only comes on when the door is opened,so one tends to think that the small automata each start up in turn as the top of the fruit lifts,but in fact...they never stop". This example is in beautifully preserved condition,ex-1984 collection auction in Monte-Carlo,Monaco to the Steinbaums.