$21,150
Rare Renou Automaton of a Magician with Puppet Booth, circa 1890, with unmarked Jumeau bisque head, closed mouth, brown paperweight eyes, heavy brows, pierced ears and original brown mohair wig, standing behind a paper-covered theatre draped in yellow silk, one bisque hand holding a wand, the other a string attached to the theatre curtain which rises to reveal a stage with puppet, on velvet-covered base containing going-barrel movement playing one air, in the original Eau de Nil silk dress and matching bonnet edged with feathers, ht. 17 in., (head movement inactive, curtain and sleeves fragile). Note: The magician beats the theatre roof with her wand three times, nods her head and then raises the curtain to reveal the puppet with moving arms and a different face on each occasion (smiling man, oriental figure in skull cap, grimacer, smiling Russian in fez, and French policeman) in a sequence of five changes. In 1871 Louis Renou succeeded the then director Verger of the firm Dehais & Laforest, and used his toy-making experience to create a new type of automaton for the popular market. Smaller, lighter and more whimsical than automata by any other maker of the same period, the magician offered here is uniquely Renou in design; it is also one of the rarest and most complicated pieces made by the firm, with only five examples (including this one) known today. A similar piece is illustrated in Automata, The Golden Age, 1848 - 1914 , p. 192. Provenance: Jerry Cohen Collection, Sot Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2005-05-03
