Passed
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Description
26" (66 cm.) Arranged upon an oval ebonized wooden platform,under a glass dome,is a grassy setting shaded by a large paper-mache tree with whose branches are laden with silk leaves and flowers. Underneath is posed a Monkey Professor,seated at his teacher's lectern-style desk,facing a Monkey Student who is too small to reach the blackboard without standing on a stool. The blackboard displays arithmetic lessons and a chalk drawing of a capped and bearded monkey. The blackboard and faux-grain paper-covered furniture are of wood. the painted monkey heads are of paper-mache with articulated kidskin jaws,glass eyes and mohair wigs. They are dressed regally in silk caps,jackets and breeches with gilt trim and buttons,and painted shoes. The professor is holding his lesson books and teaching stick,and the Student is holding chalk.Movements and Music. The Professor waves his stick and moves his head and jaw as if reading from his lesson book. The Student responds by moving his right hand to write his sums on the blackboard,as he glances alternately from his teacher to the blackboard,his jaw jabbering as if in an animated exchange. The model has 7 cams to animate the Professor,and 3 cams for the Student. There are two tunes,according to the original paper tune label,La Dame Blanche,and Les Cloches du Monastere. Jean Phalibois,Paris,circa 1880. The top of the governor is double-stamped "J. Phalibois A Paris",the musical movement is stamped "J. Phalibois" on the bedplate,and an ink script on the inside of the base reads "Maitre d'ecole,No.3". Unlike most other makers who used brass cams,Phalibois favored the use of carved wooden cams to program the animations; this may have been an outgrowth of his beginnings in the cartonnage business,deftly using inexpensive materials for ever more elaborate creations.