Automaton
Category
Toys
Date
1910
Materials
Tin plate, metal, cardboard, paper
Measurements
140 mm (height)
Place of origin
Germany
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 657530
Summary
A tin plate automaton clown artist sitting on a square metal base (circa 1910). Printed or painted facial features. Wearing red, blue and yellow clown's outfit and a white conical hat. In his left hand he holds two tin plate pencils, in his right hand a hollow tin plate pencil with a lead in the end. His right arm pivots and, when a handle in the square base is turned, his arm moves and the lead draws on the sheets of paper on the metal easel opposite. This is made possible by the three roughly circular metal cams. When one is fitted to the inside of the base, and is operated by the turning handle, it 'produces' a different picture. These include a sweep, a cockrel, Nansen the explorer and Umberto, King of Italy. The original cardboard box for the tin plate automaton clown artist labelled A.115 and T.119. The rectangular box is badly damaged, one side having been partially split. Printed in black ink on the detachable lid and all four sides is an image of the tin plate automaton clown artist sketching a picutre of a clown on an easel. Above the clown is the word 'Artist'. The sides of the box have been stapled together. Inside the box is a part of the lid, an A4 photocopy of the different drawings the automaton can create and several scraps of paper with demonstrations of these drawings, including a cockerel and various heads of famous people. (Also inside the box are two display labels which both read REMOVED FOR CONSERVATION). Total number of items is 17.
Provenance
Loaned to the Museum of Childhood by the Betty Cadbury Trust Sudbury in January 1994.
Marks and inscriptions
On the underside of the base: 'MADE IN GERMANY/ D.R.P.a/ D.R.G./ Ph.V./ ARTIST/ SCHUTZ MARKE/ AUSLANDS PATENTE/ PATENT A' On the cam: 'COQ/ PATENT/ BREVE S.G.D.G' On the cam: 'UMBERTO PATENT MADE IN GERMANY' On the cam: 'NANSEN PATENT MADE IN GERMANY'