Passed
Click image to enlarge
Description
22" (56 cm.) A slender-bodied paper-mache Pierrot with painted white complexion,brown glass eyes,open mouth,brunette wig,bisque hands,is holding a lute and wearing original costume comprising silk jacket,black shirt,fitted knit leggings and pointed brown slippers,is seated on the tip of an artfully curved crescent moon. The moon has a sculpted moon face in profile,with glass eyes and an open mouth with hinged jaw,and the entire arrangement is set upon a supportive foundation of paper-mache clouds.Movements and Music. Pierrot nods and turns his head while strumming the lute,then sassily sticks out his tongue at the moon; the moon,meanwhile,winks his eye and open and closes his mouth as if responding in appreciation. There are six animations and two tunes. Leopold Lambert,Paris,circa 1890. The piece combines two of the most popular and evocative symbols of popular culture,Pierrot and the moon,into a single scene where they appear to be communicating. The automaton maker,Vichy,had first created Aubade a la Lune (Ballad to the Moon) about 1885 when his workshop was under the direction of then-foreman,Leopold Lambert. Lambert later left Vichy,and created his own automaton studio,creating among other pieces,a nearly identical version of Aubade a la Lune. Vichy sued for counterfeiting,but the Tribunal held he had not filed his design in a timely manner,and Lambert won the case. The story of the lawsuit is hold in The Encyclopedia of French Dolls by Theimer,pp 334-338. This example bears the Lambert signature winding key. It is overall in excellent,all-original condition,has never been opened and operates very nicely. Ex-collection Jerry and Sylvia Cohen,ex-collection Jerry and Bunny Steinbaum.