Rare Equilibrist Musical Automaton by Henry Vichy, c. 1894

With plaster-composition head, original paint (small chip on left cheek), fixed brown glass eyes, metal hands holding a plate and a ball on poles, balancing with one leg on a large blue-painted ball which in turn rests upon a plank, on trestle base containing going-barrel movement, two cams, eccentric crank and two-air cylinder movement, in very worn original velvet and satin costume, ht. 25 in. (64 cm) including ball, with acorn stop/start and key monogrammed "H.V.". Inside the base is a pencil inscription with date "22 Decembre 94", No. 2, initials "VD" and a maker's label: "Henry Vichy, 36 Rue Montmorency, Paris". – Balancing on the ball, which tilts back and forth on the plank, the equilibrist bends to the left and right, moves his head and his right arm. The automaton is in original unrestored working condition. – Please see Lot 628 in this auction for another Vichy automaton with similarly inscribed date. Provenance: From information supplied by the vendor, the automaton was previously in the collection of the artist (Sister) Corita Kent (1918–1986). Kent taught at the Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, California, until leaving the order of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart in around 1966. The automaton may originally have formed part of the college's collection of folk art, which was auctioned at Sotheby's, New York, on 13–15 July 1975. The automaton passed to the vendor after Kent's death in 1986. We know of only one other example of this automaton, illustrated in Annette Beyer, "Die faszinierende Welt der Automaten", p. 196. A letter of provenance from the vendor accompanies this lot. – A rare and charming figure.

布雷克拍品等级是为了方便竞买人判断拍卖品的成色而设置的。布雷克等级用1到6级来标注外观和功能的成色，(从非常好到非常差)。 在目录图册里用括号里的2个数字来表示，前一个数字表示外观成色的级别，后一个数字表示功能成色的级别。如(3/2)表示外观成色是3(满意的)，功能成色2(好)。 成色 定义参照下列标准： 1 - 非常好 (未使用过，没有使用痕迹) 2 - 好 (新，极少的使用痕迹) 3 - 满意的 (普通的使用痕迹) 4 - 及格的 (明显的使用痕迹，某个非主要部件是后配的) 5 - 有缺陷的 (极明显的使用痕迹, 某个主要部件是后配的，功能上有缺陷，需要修理) 6 - 非常差 (严重破损, 缺少重要部件)