Rare Automaton of a Louisiana Black Smoker by Vichy

Description:

Rare Automaton of a Louisiana Black Smoker by Vichy, with papier-mache head, brown eyes with articulated lids, open / closed mouth with painted teeth, sculpted cheekbones, chin and eyebrows, and black mohair wig, sitting cross-legged on scrollwork walnut rocking chair, his body articulated at the right knee, left elbow and right arm, his hands molded and painted to suggest gloves, holding bone and burlwood cheroot-holder in his right hand, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in his left, the crank-wind going-barrel movement in the body driving seven cams, bellows and playing two airs as the figure rocks back and forth in his chair, looks from side to side surveying the scene, slowly moving the Proclamation back and forth in his left hand, raising the cigarette-holder in his right, inclining his head to inhale, the smoke passing through the body and exhaled through his mouth as he leans his head backwards and lowers his eyelids as though savoring the experience, in tailored white cotton plantation suit over cream silk dress shirt, green cummerbund, straw hat, original leather shoes and striped black-and-yellow socks, ht. 22 in., with crank and "acorn" stop / start, seven movements. One of only three known examples of this piece, restoration was undertaken by Steve and Jere Ryder in 1991; an album of notes and photographs documenting the restoration is included in the Lot.
Literature: Bailly, Automata, The Golden Age, pp. 77, 241.
In 1896 Henry Vichy traveled from France to the United States for the purpose of establishing an American branch of the company. Under Henry's leadership, the Vichy family had already amassed a loyal clientele in America. A visitor to the Chicago Exhibition in 1893, one of the first occasions that Gustave and Henry Vichy had exhibited together as Messieus Vichy, G. and H., reported that in his opinion the firm's display was "the most veritable attraction". He went on to add: "No mechanical toys are more polished than those made by the firm, which employs fifteen men and ten women, whose turnover amounts to the sum of 150,000 francs and which exports to the Orient, to America and in Europe." Establishing a branch of the company in a major city such as New York or Philadelphia would have seemed like a natural progression for this most progressive of automaton makers.
Henry Vichy settled in New Jersey, where he was joined by his wife and three children in 1898. Little else is known of his time in America, however it seems likely that he would have traveled the country, taking in the sights from New York to New Orleans. His travels came to an end abruptly in 1900 with the breakdown of his marriage. Gustave Vichy arrived from France to retrieve his grandchildren and daughter-in-law; whatever the nature of the quarrel may have been, his son's name quietly disappeared from the company's letter head.
As unhappy as the outcome of the transatlantic adventure for the Vichy household, some of the firm's most graceful and original automata were created during Henry Vichy's time as its director. Notable amongst these is the Louisiana Black Smoker, which is not only one of Vichy's most sculptural automata, but also one of their rarest. It was also one of their only two automata to portray American characters; the other was Buffalo Bill. Uniquely Vichy in design, the rocking action of the chair is created by a leather wheel concealed in sole of the figure's left shoe, the mechanism, music and bellows being concealed entirely within the figure's body. Vichy's largest and most elaborate smoker, it is tempting to think that the elegant black man rocking nonchalantly in his chair may have been drawn from life by Henry Vichy, an accomplished artist, during his travels in the American South.
Estimate $70,000-90,000

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