Depicting a pair of black entertainers – a banjo player and a dancer with a hoop – in front of a velvet-covered balustrade with pedestal and two urns, both figures with papier-mâché heads and brown glass eyes, the banjo player with articulated eyelids and lower jaw, carved teeth, original silk jacket, sash and striped velvet trousers, the dancer articulated at neck, shoulders, hips and knees, in velvet jacket, silk breeches and felt top hat, on stained wood base, total ht. 33 in. (84 cm), banjo player 27 in. (68,5 cm), dancer 15 ½ in. (39 cm), base: 28 ¾ x 15 in. (73 x 38 cm). – The large going-barrel motor, fitted with a four-wing governor and ratchet-assisted winding, drives a two-air cylinder musical movement and nine boxwood cams. The banjo player pivots back and forth on his left heel while tapping his right foot in time to the music, strumming, swaying his head from side to side, winking with each eye alternately and moving his mouth as though singing. His companion, meanwhile, turns his head and lifts the hoop, raises each leg alternately and jumps through the hoop into the air. – Both figures are expressively modeled, the banjo player, in particular, with high cheekbones and a rakish expression heightened by his articulated 'dancing' eyelids. He carries a miniature five-string banjo with brass body, carved wood neck and individual metal tuning pegs. – Amongst Edouard-Henry Phalibois' oeuvre were a number of large 'one off' pieces and animated groups, usually special creations for private customers and businesses such as Phénix soap and the Parfumerie Nivosione in Paris. – A rare and very animated automaton, probably unique, in good working order. – Exhibited as No. 48 in "La Magie des Automates au XIX Siecle", 29 April to 18 May 1993, Brussels, catalog p. 38. – Provenance: ex-collection of Virgilio Seco, Sotheby's London, 27–28 May 1998, Lot 195.