Depicting a mathematics master at the lectern and his pupil standing on a stool to reach the board, both figures with papier-mâché heads, carved wood hands, articulated mouths and original satin costumes, the master in a frock coat and cap, the pupil in silk breeches and paper-trimmed jacket, on ebonized base containing two-air pull-string cylinder movement, No. 15097, with tune-sheet ("Les Roses Valse" and "La Fille de Mme. Angot, Conspirateur") and stamp of "J. Phalibois", the going-barrel motor, No. 503, with nine boxwood cams, indistinct horologist's stamp and oval stamp: "J. Phalibois à Paris", ht. 16 ½ in. (42 cm), schoolmaster's mouth inactive, leather on pupil's upper lip split. – The master turns his head, blinks and leans forwards as he points at the board, then lifts and extends his book. The pupil, meanwhile, looks from board to master, chatters and writes away, hoping that his teacher will not notice the cartoon of a bearded and spectacled professor he has drawn in the lower left corner. – The automaton was probably displayed at the third Exposition Universelle which attracted more than 13 million visitors to the Palais du Champs de Mars in Paris from 1 May to 31 October 1878. The base has two ink stamps of "Exposition Universelle 1878, J. Phalibois, Paris, Pièces Mécanique, Fantasies à Musique". Phalibois exhibited in the toy section (Classe 42), described in the "Guide Conty de l'Exposition Universelle de 1878" as containing "toys of every description, each more ingenious than the last". A rare and amusing automaton in good, original working condition.