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$3,500
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Description
26" (66 cm.) Arranged on a wooden oval base under glass dome is a pair of seated monkey musicians, she holding a guitar, and he a violin. They are costumed in an aristocratic manner against an elegant salon-like background, and when wound, music plays and she strums the guitar, while he turns and nods his head, opens and closes mouth as though singing, and plays the violin. Condition: generally excellent, costumes and backgrounds are partially refurbished. Comments: French, the firm of Phalibois which specialized in the glass-domed parlor mechanical vignettes, circa 1880; their amusing series of aristocratic-themed automata in which monkeys were dressed as the high society class was a gentle but deliberate mockery of their society. Value Points: charming arrangement with amusing movements and scene.