Rare "Buste Japonais" Musical Smoking Automaton by Vichy, c. 189

With plaster-composition head, original paint, defined facial structure and cheekbones, brown paperweight eyes, articulated eyelids and jaw, long black hair wig arranged in top-knot, papier-mâché hands holding an opium pipe and an appropriately replaced tea cup, modeled with lightly arched back on plaster pedestal decorated with raised gilt motifs of leaves and blossom in imitation of Japanese lacquer work, the velvet-covered wood base containing large going-barrel motor, five cams, bell-crank and two-air cylinder musical movement, the bellows for inhaling and exhaling smoke housed in the figure's chest, dressed in black and fuchsia silk brocade kimono, embroidered obi, gold satin cuffs and blue velvet collar with metallic appliqués, ht. 25 in. (64 cm). With key and acorn-form stop/start. – In addition: A period carved oak stand, ht. 47 in. (120 cm), automaton and stand 72 in. (184 cm). – Movements: The Japanese gentleman turns his head, raises the pipe to inhale, moves his mouth and flutters his eyelids as though savoring the experience, then leans his head back to exhale gently and lifts the tea cup in his left hand. The smoke is pulled from a lighted cigarette in the pipe, cycled through the body and expelled from the figure's mouth. – The automaton movement has been cleaned and is in good working condition. The paint on the figure and pedestal is original and has an attractive patina, with some inconspicuous retouch on the finger tips, the figure's lower neck (below his collar) and around the seams of his mouth (below his moustache). – Background: Vichy's choice of subject reflects the "Japonisme" of the late 19th century, a fascination with Japanese culture that inspired works as influential as Claude Monet’s portrait of his wife, Camille, in Japanese costume (1876) and James Abbott McNeill Whistler's "Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room". – An article titled "Les Automates" in the November 1891 issue of "La Nature" described two Japanese-themed automata by Vichy and noted that "a large number of automata representing genre subjects have been inspired by a picture or a current event". – In this category is a series of automaton half-figures apparently based on the works of the French sculptor Emile Guillemin (1841–1907). Guillemin's gilt-bronze bust of "Un Japonais", exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1878, depicts a very similar figure and may have served as the model of Vichy's "Buste Japonais". – Literature: Bailly, "Automata, the Golden Age", p. 256 in Vichy catalog; Alber, "Les Automates", 7 November 1891, in "La Nature. Revue des Sciences 1891" (annual), p. 357. – A rare and handsome Vichy automaton.

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)