Monkey with papier-mâché head, articulated eyes and mouth, original well-preserved green satin jacket, cream silk breeches and velvet hat trimmed with Dresden paper and edged in lace, playing turned wood flute as a poodle dances on its hind legs beside him, under flowering arbour on ebonized base containing going-barrel motor stamped "J. Phalibois à Paris", 6 boxwood cams with levers (one disconnected), pulleys and pull-string cylinder musical movement (no. 159858) playing "La Belle Hélène, Au Mont Ida" and "Rigoletto, La Donaa e Mobile", under original glass dome, ht. 26 ½ in. (67 cm) including dome, with size 14 steel key. – Provenance: Acquired by previous owner from a sale at De Vaux House, Salisbury, in 1975. – The monkey musician turns and nods his head, rocks back and forth and stamps his right leg in time to the music as the dog hops up and down and dances in a circle. The automaton and musical movements, though working, would benefit from cleaning. The monkey's eye, lip and arm movements are inactive. – Literature: Bailly, "Automata, the Golden Age", p. 159 for a similar piece in the Guinness Collection. – An unusual monkey automaton in unrestored original condition.