Gustave Vichy Automaton of a Black Banjo-Player

Description:

Gustave Vichy Automaton of a Black Banjo-Player, with papier-mache head, brown paperweight eyes with articulated eyelids and feather lashes, hinged lower jaw, moustache and long black wig held in a plait, finely-modeled hands holding a five-string minstrel banjo with simulated tortoiseshell sides, the sculpted papier-mache body containing going-barrel movement playing two airs and causing the musician to strum the banjo with his right hand, while blinking, turning and nodding his head, and moving his mouth as though singing, in red satin tailcoat over striped waistcoat and beaded vest, "jeweled" fobs, black breeches and original top hat, on velvet-covered base with plaque G. Vichy, Paris, Modele Depose, ht. 31 in., (good movements and tone),with pierced Vichy key and acorn stop/start.

Literature: Christian Bailly (1987),Automata, the Golden Age, p. 79.
Estimate $15,000-20,000

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