Modeled as a crying boy atop a school bench, with plaster-composition character head, narrowed brown glass eyes and papier-mâché dunce's cap with articulated donkey ears, bisque hands, dressed in velvet waistcoat, shirt, striped breeches, original stockings and leather shoes, ht. 19 in., paint renewed, redressed, four-cam going-barrel movement stamped "G. Vichy, Paris" and accompanying two-air cylinder movement, working condition. With acorn stop/start and plaque of "G. Vichy, Paris. 5 Articles Français, Modèle Déposé". – Literature: Bailly "Automata, the Golden Age", pp. 104 and 244. – The title of Vichy's automaton was probably a reference to Jacques Offenbach's 1864 operetta "Jeanne Qui Pleure & Jean Qui Rit" ("Joan who Cries and John who Laughs). The 'sister' piece to this automaton, titled "Jeanne qui Rit", depicts a smiling girl on a school bench. – The expressive features of both figures are characteristic of the automata produced under Gustave and (his son) Henry Vichy's creative collaboration during the 1890s. The number 5 on the plaque refers to Gustave Vichy's position in the Chambre Syndicale des Fabricants de Jouets et Jeux (an association of French toy-manufacturers) whose president he became in 1893. – Jean nods and shakes his head as he peers at the book, raises his right arm and kicks his left leg impatiently. Vichy adds a characteristic element of humor to the scene as the boy's donkey-like ears flap up and down. A classic Vichy automaton.