Important Watches, Wristwatches and C...
Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Oct 15, 1994
LOT 612
Not signed, probably Charles Bruguier, Geneva, circa 1830. "La Fée Carabosse". Extremely rare gilt brass androide automaton.
CHF 60,000 - 120,000
C. GiIt brass figure of an old woman with engraved and repoussé face and clothing, hobbling on two mechanically actuated sticks. Cape can be removed, arms are articulated and ankles pivot as feet are lifted and step forward. The purse on her left side disclose the winding hole and set the movement in motion. M. Shaped gilt brass, fusee with chain and speed speed controlled by wormand-wheel driven fly regulator. In very good condition. Dim. 21 cm high.
Notes
Only three examples of the "Fée Carabosse" are known to exist, one, from the Sandoz
collection, is exhibited in the Château des Monts - Le Locle, Switzerland, the other, part
of the collection of Sir David Salomons is described by George Daniels and Ohannes
Markarian in Watches and Clocks in the Sir David Salomons Collection, 1980, pp. 280-
281. It is also described and illustrated with the mechanism by A. Chapuis and E. Gelis
in Le Monde des Automates, 1928, vol. Il, pp. 220-221, where it is indicated that a
similar androide automaton was built in London in about 1830 by Ch. Bruguier from
Geneva.