With leather-covered head, defined cheekbones and facial structure, open mouth with carved teeth, brown paperweight eyes, curly black Astrakhan wig and brass hoop earrings, holding a gilt-metal edged tray decorated with leaves, ribbons and three upturned papier-mâché fruits: an apple, a pear and an orange, the figure elaborately dressed in pink satin brocade jacket with filigree gilt buttons, lace jabot, bowtie and red velvet breeches, ht. 26 ½ in. (67 cm). With acorn-form stop/start and original red-painted brass key lightly stamped "G.V.". Good, sympathetically restored working condition. – The fruit seller turns and inclines his head to the left and right as he inspects his wares which open in turn to reveal 3 mechanical illusions. Under the apple is a monkey blinking and looking from side to side, under the pear a waltzing couple (male dancer replaced) and under the orange a white mouse running in circles. The fruit seller gazes up at his audience, his eyelids fluttering to heighten the illusion of life. – The Fruit Seller was offered in the 1884 catalogue of the Silber & Fleming department store in London for the princely price of £ 7,7 shillings. The strange contents of the fruit seems to belie the special restraints of the deceptively shallow tray. Concealed behind a metal plate on the underside are three gear trains to animate the monkey, dancers and mouse and three levers that open the fruits. The exotic figure, his enchanted fruits and the mechanical ingenuity of the automaton's construction represent the most magical elements of Gustave Vichy's work. – Provenance: Sotheby's London, 15 September 1993, Lot 306, former collection of Betty Cadbury (1915–1991), Rednal, Birmingham. – Betty Cadbury, a collector and historian, authored her influential work "Playthings Past, a Collector's Guide to Antique Toys" in 1976, explaining that she "was concerned with the changing attitudes of children towards their toys and the social and economic conditions which influenced their purchase". In 1973 Cadbury presented her collection (including the automaton offered here) to the public in a B.B.C. documentary hosted by Arthur Negus. She was also instrumental in establishing the National Trust Museum of Childhood by installing the substantial collection of Playthings Past at Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire, in 1983. – A rare and wonderful Vichy automaton with significant provenance.