$10,000
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
Description
34" (86 cm.) Standing upon a gilded cane-seat chair is a tall slender woman with paper mache head, blue glass eyes, leather eyelids, painted features, closed mouth with wide beaming smile and row of teeth, brunette mohair wig, carton torso with shapely lady styling, separate shoulderplate with "flap", long slender legs with painted shoes, paper mache lower arms and hands. She is wearing a stylish cream dress, with separate wide collar, straw bonnet, and holds binoculars in her hands. When wound, music plays, and the lady lifts the binoculars to her eyes, pauses, then lowers the binoculars and her eyes blink excitedly while her bosom heaves, as though excited at the race track activity. Condition: generally excellent. Comments: Henri Phalibois, circa 1900. Value Points: rare model of popular social scene of the upper classes, of which few other examples are known to exist, with well-functioning mechanism and music.