Antique Monkey Pastry-Cook Musical Automaton, by Roullet & Decamps

A rare French ormolu chinoiserie automaton mantel clock. The mercury fire gilded ormolu case has elaborate bracket feet to the front, and fine ormol...

This superb work of art combines the beauty of a painting with the mechanical complicities of an automaton and clock. Depicting a rural scene, the clock is integrated into the church, sitting within the giltwood and gesso frame. Also within the painting is automaton windmill, again integrated into the picture atop the windmill. The automaton runs off the clock, so requires no separate winding, The clock is a fine 8 day, fusee movement with gut string, with verge escapement...

An extremely rare antique French Charles X period ormolu musical mantel clock of Gaius Marius amidst the ruins of Carthage by the noted maker Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. The superb an...

An early 19th century musical automaton necessaire box. This rare box of good size, when opened, the music plays automatically, or by activating a sw...

Fine black marble and ormolu mantel clock of borne (antique milestone) form. Superb proportions and Fine ormolu mounts, well finished with matte and burnished fire gilding. The prima...

A fine antique English shagreen and gilt bronze strut clock. A very smart and chic clock with a lovely convex enamel white dial with Roman hour numerals in black with a gilt bronze b...

One of the most amazing timepieces we have ever acquired that offers far more than meets the eye, this incredible work of art blends the beauty of a painting with the mechanical complexities of both a cylinder music box and an automaton. While it is clear to see the integrated clock residing within the arched giltwood and gesso frame, when activated, this painting quite literally comes alive. As the cylinder mechanism within plays its lovely tune, every character in the farrier's shop becomes animated – from the group of farrier's toiling away at the forge and anvil forming the horseshoes, to the wagging of the charming terrier's tale. This musical automaton picture clock is attributed to Xavier Tharin of Paris who was the preeminent creator of this fantastical "moving pictures", especially this particular farrier scene. His process mixed oil painting and hand-colored lithograph images that were layered starting from the back, middle and foreground to craft the complex series of movements throughout the painting. A look inside this particular work reveals the complex mechanism (with the three gongs, pendulum and cylinder components immediately visible) which must run the timepiece, the cylinder musical component plus the multitude of moving elements in the painting...a truly incredible feat considering the technical prowess to create just one of these devices. Musical picture clocks...

Rare French Paper Mache Roullet Decamps Automaton Growler Dog A rare and truly wonderful example of a Roullet & Decamps papier Mache pull along dog toy. R...

This fine, antique mantel clock is constructed in ebonised wood by the renowned Parisian maker of automata, Xavier Tharin (French, active mid 19th Century). The clock face is set onto a curled, stylized pediment atop the clock case. The face is of white enamel, featuring black Roman numerals and signed 'Tharin a Paris', and is bordered in beaded ormolu. The pediment in which the face is set is decorated with ormolu mounts of stylized acanthus leaf form. The pediment is set onto a rectangular frame of ebonised wood, inside which is set a musical automaton...

19th century Roullet et Decamps Automaton cow We are proud to offer a rare circa 1880 automaton mooing cow, attributed to Roullet et Decamps and lar...

Beautiful clock in gilded bronze with automation. The clock has 2 independent mechanisms, one for the clock and another for the water fountain. The water fountain mechanism has a dur...

This incredible work of art blends the beauty of a painting with the mechanical complexities of both a cylinder music box and an automaton. A clock is integrated within the arched giltwood and gesso frame, and, when activated, this painting quite literally comes alive. As the cylinder mechanism within plays its lovely tune, every character in the farrier's shop becomes animated – from the group of farrier's toiling away at the forge and anvil forming the horseshoes, to the wagging of the charming terrier's tale. This musical automaton picture clock is attributed to Xavier Tharin of Paris who was the preeminent creator of these fantastical "moving pictures", especially this particular scene. His process mixed oil painting and hand-colored lithograph images that were layered starting from the back and into the middle and foreground to craft the complex series of movements throughout the painting. A look inside this particular work reveals the complex mechanism (with the three gongs, pendulum and cylinder components immediately visible) which run the timepiece, the cylinder musical component, plus the multitude of moving elements in the painting -- a truly incredible feat considering the technical prowess to create just one of these devices. Musical picture clocks...