$140,000
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
Description
43"(109 cm.) with parasol. 33"height of lady. An elegant lady
with paper mache head depicting a Japanese lady with oil
painted amber tinted complexion and facial features,brown glass
eyes,ornate coiffure,is standing with parasol at her back,framing
her face,and offering examples of paper mache decorative
masks that she holds on her tray of wares. She is wearing an
elaborately embroidered and hand-painted sash and kimono
with rich designs including a large and elegant crane,various
layered garments,silk slippers and carries a large wooden-
handled paper parasol while balancing a lacquered tray upon
which are displayed three paper mache festival masks. There are
six animations and one musical tune. Condition: generally
excellent,mechanism and music function well. Marks: (trademark
Vichy lever and key). Comments: Gustav Vichy,Paris,circa
1890,named "Marchande de Masques",model 448,by Vichy,the
exact piece was described in an 1892 article about Vichy in La
Nature,French journal: A large number of [Vichy] automata
represent genre figures,sometimes inspired by a painting,or by
some current event. For instance,there is a Japanese woman with
an expressive face (but perhaps too Western looking) dressed in
richly embroidered clothes and holding a tray in front of her,full
of masks. She is holding a huge parasol in one hand and a mask
in the other,She pivots her head,raises and lowers her
eyelids,while twirling the parasol between the
fingers,occasionally also covering her face with the mask held in
the other hand."Value Points: very rare model to find,this
example is superbly preserved original and well-functioning
condition.