Lot 309
FRENCH MUSICAL AUTOMATON OF A FRUIT SELLER, BY GUSTAVE VICHY
CIRCA 1890
Auction: Day One | Wednesday 18 Feb at 10am | Lots 1 to 352
Description
the leather covered papier-mache head, with an open mouth showing rows of teeth, articulated eyelids and a real hair, the head turns, the figures holds a gilt metal tray displaying three papier-mache fruits, each opens to reveal a running mouse, two dancing figures and a turning monkey's head with an articulated jaw, the figure modelled standing, wearing a crimson and gold satin suit with filigree gilt trimmings and a lace cravat, raised on a moulded velvet covered base, operated with a keywind, the mechanism within the body, with painted inscription to the base ‘G. Chant 18/11/91’
Dimensions
70cm high, 33cm wide
Provenance
Private collection, Northumberland
Footnote
Literature: For a similar example, see Automata the Golden Age 1848-1914, Bailly, Sotheby's Publications, 1987
Note: Gustave Vichy was born in 1839 to a Parisian watch and clock maker Antoine Michel who, along with his wife, set up the Vichy company in 1862 with the aim of building and selling clocks, mechanical objects and toys. In 1866, Gustave took over the company and dedicated his time almost entirely to developing automata while his wife, a seamstress, dressed the figures. The Vichy company became part of a group of family businesses that thrived in Paris between 1860 and 1910 and known as the "Golden Age of Automata". Gustave had great success producing advertising automata and one of his models won the Grand Prix at the Great Exhibition of 1900, the only award given to automata or mechanical toys. His son Henry gradually took control of the firm, incorporating Lioret phonograph mechanisms into some automaton models, which were advertised as being able to sing, speak and play musical instruments.