Manivelle Automaton of a Cats' Tea Party

Description:

Manivelle Automaton of a Cats' Tea Party, circa 1890, the five fur-covered cats with glass eyes, articulated heads, mouths, paws and tails, one standing and four seated on turned stools around a circular table laid with a blue-and-white painted tea service, on grain-painted and polychrome paper-covered base containing the hand-turned mechanism playing Daisy Daisy, one other air and operating bellows for intermittent "meowing" effect, wd. 12 in., ht. 8 1/2 in., (one missing an eye),total of twenty-two movements.

Note: The cats raise their teacups with one paw, gesticulate with the other, while swishing their tails and looking from side to side and opening their mouths as though gossiping.
Estimate $2,000-3,000

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