#CLOCKWORK AUTOMATON IMAGES FULL#
#CLOCKWORK AUTOMATON IMAGES SERIES#

They have cork bodies to help them float. Ondine dolls, designed by Elie Martin, were advertised as swimming dolls. Like some of his contemporaries, Phalibois also created automata for retail shop windows.

#CLOCKWORK AUTOMATON IMAGES FULL#

One famous piece shows three monkeys playing in an orchestra, and it has a full musical accompaniment. For example, French creator Jean-Marie Phalibois made rich scenes featuring dolls involved in various tasks. Some dolls lived in miniature tableaus with bases that hid their clockwork. Other manufacturers, such as Leopold Lambert, made customized papier-mache heads for their dolls but sometimes bought bisque heads. Artisans painted them with attractive, lifelike faces. These heads are made of bisque, which is unglazed porcelain. Names you might see include Jumeau and Gaultier, sometimes stamped at the back of the doll’s neck. Many makers of 19th-century automata purchased the dolls’ heads from renowned dollmakers. They are lavishly dressed in blue and ivory silk, and the clockwork mechanism is hidden within the woman’s skirt. Luxury dollmakers got involved in making them, especially in France, where the industry thrived. Unlike earlier versions, these new clockwork dolls were displayed at exhibitions and sold to the public. In the 19th century, the availability of mass-produced parts set off a mechanical and artistic renaissance for automata. You may be familiar with this famous automaton because it inspired the film “Hugo.” You can see it at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. They sit underneath the life-size mechanical man, making him draw pictures and write poems.

You can think of the information on a cylinder of cams as a kind of computer program, telling the doll what to do.įor example, Maillardet’s automaton has more cams than any other automaton of the period. As the rod connected to the doll’s moving parts traversed the cam, each ridge translated into a different tiny model movement.

#CLOCKWORK AUTOMATON IMAGES SERIES#

Like Henri Maillardet and his more famous contemporary Pierre Jaquet-Droz, other early automata producers would carefully form the cams with a planned series of bumps and valleys. Rods or levers connect the cams to the mechanical doll’s mouth, eyes, or limbs-whichever parts move. There is also a cylinder of disks called cams, which control the doll’s movement. Each is powered by a clockwork motor, a spring connected to a series of gears. The workings of these early pieces are nothing short of ingenious. Automata Evolved in the 1700sĪs clockwork technology developed in the 18th century, clockmakers created automata to promote their wares. A mere 15 inches tall, he tilts his head, mouths silent prayer, and beats his chest as he travels the shape of a trapezoid. For example, this wooden and iron monk doll is from the late 16th century. Each was a luxurious item owned by someone of means, like a member of royalty. There are multiple examples of automata from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. However, the term usually refers to moving objects powered by clockwork motors. Like later automata, they often resembled humans or animals. Early folk art automata were powered by hand with a crank.

The term automaton can refer to any object that moves by itself. French automata makers Roullet & Decamps created this little knitting girl.

Clockwork automaton images