Gustave Vichy, Pierrot à La Lune Or Aubade à La Lune

Gustave VICHY (1839-1904)
Pierrot à la lune ou Aubade à la lune

Musical automaton

Paris, circa 1886-1890

Pressed cardboard and polychrome papier-mâché, sulfur eyes, textile, original musical mechanism with key.

Dimensions: H 53 × W 53 × D 21 cm


Important musical automaton depicting a Pierrot musician seated on a large anthropomorphic crescent moon. The figure, dressed in a black and mauve collared suit, holds a mandolin which he appears to play while turning his face towards the moon. The latter, treated as a stylized profile with a mobile gaze, simultaneously animates the eye and mouth thanks to an ingenious synchronized double mechanism.

The composition is distinguished by its spectacular silhouette, blending symbolist poetry, popular theater and mechanical virtuosity. The contrast between the monumentality of the lunar face and the delicacy of Pierrot contributes to the dreamlike atmosphere characteristic of the great French salon automata of the late 19th century.

Rendered in pressed cardboard and polychrome papier-mâché, the work retains its original, functional musical mechanism with key. The coordinated movement of the various elements (rotation of Pierrot's head, animation of the moon's eye and mouth) testifies to the technical sophistication achieved by Parisian workshops during the golden age of automata.

The work has undergone an early restoration and is presented today in used condition, with visible wear and minor accidents, in accordance with the photographs.

Gustave VICHY is among the major figures of French automata in the second half of the 19th century. Successor to ROULLET-DECAMPS before developing his own workshop, he quickly established himself as one of the most inventive designers on the Parisian luxury automaton market. His productions are distinguished by the quality of their movements, the expressiveness of their figures and a keen sense of staging.

The model known under the titles Pierrot à la lune or Aubade à la lune is one of VICHY's emblematic creations. Inspired by the poetic, melancholy world of the fin-de-siècle Pierrot (an omnipresent theme in Symbolist decorative arts, music and theater), this automaton perfectly synthesizes the dreamy aesthetic characteristic of the 1880s-1890s.

The model's success was considerable: in particular, it was taken up by Léopold LAMBERT, a former foreman at VICHY, who produced several variants directly inspired by this now iconic composition. This distribution testifies to the work's historic importance in the evolution of the French salon automaton.

With its monumental lunar decoration, the quality of its polychromy and the complexity of its synchronized animation, this automaton ranks among Gustave VICHY's most theatrical and sought-after creations.

Bibliography:

L'Âge d'Or des Automates (1848-1914), catalog de l'exposition du Parc de Bagatelle, Paris, model reproduced p. 35.

Fac-simile from the Maison Vichy catalog, models n°424 to 434, p.240 comparable works reproduced in color p. 86-87.

Alain Decaux, Les Automates, Paris, Éditions de l'Amateur, 1978.

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