$35,000
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sold
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Description
19" (48 cm.) h. seated upright x 24"l. x 12"w. Posed in a refined and elegant manner upon a silk-covered wooden-framed recamier with fringed decorations and velvet pillow, is a bisque-head lady with portrait model face, aquiline nose with upturned tip, blue glass paperweight eyes, closed mouth, finely-painted facial details, brunette mohair wig in upswept coiffure, shapely elongated carton torso and slender legs daintily crossed at the ankles, wearing a sheer muslin ruffled over-dress on green silk satin, trimmed with red silk ribbons, and with square-cut neckline designed to emphasize her separately modeled shapely bisque bosom. Condition: generally excellent, music and movement function well. Marks: L.B. (key). Comments: Leopold Lambert, circa 1885, with bisque portrait head by Jumeau, the rare automaton is actuated by three brass cams plus two steel stud-cams within the clockwork mechanism. When wound, music plays, and a series of realistic actions occur. Luxuriating on her recamier, the elegant lady, seeming to greet guests, turns and nods her head, appearing to arise, while alternately fanning herself with her right hand, and dabbing her face with the handkerchief held in her left hand. She pauses, and then reclines again, evidently having satisfied the social demands of her high station. Value Points: the intricate movements and artistic presentation of the model indicate its luxury creation, as does the rare portrait Jumeau head and its larger size. Few other models are known to exist.