Passed
Description
16" (41 cm.) Standing upon a velvet-covered wooden platform with wooden ball feet is a bisque-headed girl with blue glass paperweight inset eyes,closed mouth,beautifully painted features,blonde mohair wig over cork pate,carton torso and legs,bisque forearms,and original bronze-green silk costume with lace trim. She stands behind a wooden pedestal table with gold cover on which is arranged a tinplate mouse trap with hinged door and a little mouse. Movements and Music. As the music plays,the young girl raises and lowers her arms alternately,her right hand using the stick to direct the mouse in and out of the trap,while her left hand lifts and lowers the trap door. She raises and lowers her head to alternately look at the audience or her trick mouse. The mouse moves hesitantly and then scampers. Music plays.Louis Renou,Paris,circa 1900. The charming vignette with simple mechanical movements seems more a decoration than a play thing. In fact,in a 1905 patent Renou wrote "When a child is given an automaton as a gift,as a rule it is not turned over to the child for play,but is rather placed on a mantel,or on some other piece of furniture where it is wound up and set in motion by adults. It is actually an item of home furnishing or decoration and not a toy".