Beschreibung:

A FINE AND VERY RARE FRENCH 'WHISTLER' MUSICAL AUTOMATON FIGURE HENRY PHALIBOIS, PARIS, CIRCA 1895 The figured modelled in papier mache composition as a schoolboy or urchin in standing pose with shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes and puckered lips, wearing a white shirt, neck tie, blue/black velvet jacket with polished steel buttons, mop beret, breaches and buckled shoes, set on a cylindrical red and green velvet covered plinth enclosing the single going-barrel movement driving both the quadruple-action automata and the musical 'whistling' mechanism, causing the figure to rock his head from side to side, lower and raise his eyelids and gesture with his right hand in time with the multi-note 'whistling' music once activated by a stop/start lever positioned to the edge of the platform behind his feet. 87cm (34,25ins) high, 30cm (11.75ins) diameter at the base. Jean Phalibois was one of the most prestigious and oldest Parisian makers of automata who, since the 1860's, had specialised in tableaux scenes with birds, monkeys and other scenes set beneath glass domes. On his retirement in 1893 the business was passed onto his son, Henry, who went on to develop a new type of larger character-driven automaton designed to impress and instil wonder. Such figures were often used for advertisement purposes or as 'entertainment' for the very wealthy in their beaux-art interiors. Christian Bailly in Automata, the Golden Age notes that in 1895 Henry Phalibos advertised 'figures playing instruments, speaking, singing, whistling, laughing' with many performing five functions at once and illustrates an identical model to the current lot on page 165. Phalibos featured his 'whistler' figure on letterheads and in advertisements at the turn of the century hence it became something of a mascot for the new direction the firm was taking. An essentially identical figure was sold at Skinner's, Boston, sale of Clocks, Watches and Scientific Instruments 28th October 2007 (lot 644) for $25,850.