Tuesday, November 02, 2010

The Turk chess playing automaton sculpture

The Turk chess playing automaton sculpture
Thomas Kuntz is a Los Angeles-based sculptor who builds automata and other magical pieces. Here is a static sculpture by Thomas Kuntz of the infamous chess playing automaton that was known as "The TURK". Limited to only 25 world wide, this one currently on ebay is number 20 of 25.

About The Turk sculpture:
This amazing and beautiful hand-finished sculpture is an incredibly detailed jewel of a piece, it has been meticulously cast in a special hybrid resin with some turned metal parts of brass and accents in steel. It sits on a luxurious velvet oval base atop a solid marble base. Only three of the edition have this special base which also has the maker's badge on the back marked "Thomas J. Kuntz USA". The hours needed to finish this piece, about 48-60 hours of time not counting the time it took to sculpt the original and tool the molds! Please see the photos of the micro handle components being made on the watchmakers lathe. The whole cabinet is only 4" in width! This sculpture has ended up in some very interesting and important collections collections.

Here is the full ebay listing with a number of photographs of The Turk, chess playing automaton sculpture.


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