$12,925
Gustave Vichy Automaton of a Moroccan Harpist, with papier-mache head, open mouth with inset bone teeth, brown paperweight eyes with articulated lids, pierced ears and black mohair wig beneath metal-thread over cream satin turban, sitting as through perched, with harp resting on her knee, on octagonal wooden stool with incised decoration, the going-barrel movement playing two airs and causing the figure to move her left hand in plucking motion, her right hand articulated at elbow and wrist as though moving her fingers over the strings, as she turns and inclines her head, blinking all the while, in silk brocade jacket over metal-thread bodice, skirt and cummerbund, blue beads, brass coins with stars and crescent moons forming her elaborate jewelry, ht. 29 in. Literature: Bailly, Automata, the Golden Age , pp. 72 and 237.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2007-10-28
