Passed
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Description
18" (46 cm.) A velvet-covered wooden stage presents a vignette of an elegant lady posed on a stool at her piano,ready for her performance. The lady has a bisque poupee head attributed to Gaultier,blue glass eyes,closed mouth,nicely painted features,pierced ears,blonde mohair flowing curls with black velvet hair ribbons,carton torso and legs,metal hands,and is exquisitely costumed in silk brocades and lace. The piano is of fine rosewood with ebonized finish borders and sides,bone and ebony spring-tension keys,and features shaped columns,ormolu three-arm candle holders and side handles,music sheet,and Sevres cobalt blue vase with silk flowers.Movement and Music. The lady pianist moves in a realistic manner,turning and nodding her head as if alternating between reading the sheet music and watching her hands on the keys. Her forearms move sideways across the keyboard,and,independently up and down as her hands approach the keys. A signature Vichy stop/start knob initiates both the action,and the spritely operatic music,emanating from a 52-note Swiss movement. The rear of the piano contains an access panel by which the mechanism may be viewed in action. Four tunes are played. 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. This example includes the original paper tune label,two of the airs being a devotion to the composer Metra,conductor of the Folies Berg_re in Paris from 1872-1877.