French Walking Peacock Automaton

This exceptional and rare French nécessaire de voyage is almost certainly the work of the highly respected Parisian manufacturer Pierre-Dominique ...

This important and unique sword was presented to the famed French painter Jean-Gabriel Domergue to commemorate the painter's election to the illustrious Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1950. One of the highest honors bestowed on a French artist, the ceremonial induction into the French Academy has been accompanied by the presentation of a sword since the age of Napoléon. Rather than a weapon, the sword became part of the Academician's uniform, and, over time, its design came to represent the interests and aspirations of its recipient. This example was designed entirely by Domergue's wife Odette, a great sculptor in her own right, and thus it represents both a highly personal gift and an important art historical relic. The design of the sword is simply magnificent. Odette Domergue found her inspiration in antiquity, a theme that is also seen in the neoclassical sculptures that occupy the gardens of the couple's famous home, Villa Fiesole - also known as Villa Domergue - in Cannes. The impressive weapon boasts a solid gold handle that takes the form of a sinuous caryatid, who is nude save for a single swath of drapery. While the female figure recalls the sculpted supports prevalent in ancient Greek architecture, she also calls to mind the subjects for which Domergue was renowned - languorous, slightly risqué women with a seductive air. Other decorative elements such as fauna, cypresses, and grotesque heads enhance the whimsy and imagination of the incredible neoclassical design. Furthermore, the scabbard that contains the finely etched blade is also an impeccable work of art. Crafted of black Moroccan leather in imitation of the snake skin, it displays intricately engraved foliage patterns with a lion's head and Domergue's coat of arms. Though imagined by his wife, the sword was expertly chiseled by the celebrated goldsmith R. Delsinne and assembled by the atelier of the famed sculptor and medalist Raymond Delamarre...

A triumph of ingenuity and craftsmanship, this Swiss cipher machine is a fabulous example of mechanical precision. Cipher machines are used to encrypt a...

This Swiss-engineered cipher machine is a fascinating piece of 20th-century military and engineering history, and this particular example is one of the ...

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...

Automaton Singing birds Automaton singing birds housed in a gilded case standing on a stepped gilded base. Three articulated singing bird...

Antique French Nautical Automaton, likely from Marseilles, circa 1860, a glass domed diorama with windmills and cottages on hillside, overlooking harbor with ship rocking on waves to a musical tune. The interior of glass dome has a hand painted landscape with trees, village and expansive sky; the diorama features a carved or molded cottage and windmill with figures winding along path down to the water's edge; a paper or papier-mache barque rides on a blue tissue paper sea; a pull-string activated mechanism plays music, rocks the ship on the sea...

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