ANTiQUE FRENCH HAND MADE MUSICAL AUTOMATON JESTER CLOWN THAT PLAYS MUSIC & MOVES

We are delighted to offer this lovely original Victorian Pond Yacht with period oak Stand ready for rebuilding A very good looking and well made piece, this has been used as decor...

Royal House Antiques Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this super collectable antique Napoleon III leather embossed and hand pa...

We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning 1856 hand watercolour map of the Austrian Alps titled Dept Des Hautes Pyrenees taken from the Atlas Nat...

We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning 1856 hand watercolour map of the Austrian Alps titled Dept Des La Course taken from the Atlas National ...

Royal House Antiques Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this very nice and highly collectable Art Deco brown leather card case with brass cards plaque to the top an...

We are delighted to offer for sale this rather interesting untested Antique German Symphonion music box A wonderful curiosity, I have no idea how...

A fine quality therapeutic musical automaton clown toy in wonderful vintage working condition. Features porcelain head, hands and feet. Made in France circa...

A fine quality therapeutic musical automaton clown toy in wonderful vintage condition. Features porcelain head, hands and feet. Made in France during the ...

A fine quality therapeutic musical automaton clown toy in wonderful vintage condition. Features porcelain head, hands and feet. Made in France during the 195...

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...

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...

This exceptional singing bird cylinder music box is a wonder of Austrian mechanical ingenuity. Not only does it play a selection of classical airs with remarkable tone and clarity, but its lush sound is accompanied by a colorful, singing bird automaton...