Is that snake real? Incredible footage of a vintage snake-charmer automaton

My previous post was about "Zulma, La Charmeuse de Serpent" (Zulma, The Snake-Charmer) created by Gaston Decamps around 1907. VERITAS Art Auctioneers in Lisbon, Portugal will be auctioning off this rare automaton today, June 24th 2014 .

Here is video footage of the piece in question. Just incredible!

Contact information for VERITAS Art Auctioneers:
Address: Av. Elias Garcia, 157 A/B  1050-099 Lisboa, Portugal
Phone: +351 21 794 8000
Email: info@veritasleiloes.com
Web:  http://veritasleiloes.com

[ Thanks Falk! ]

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Zulma, The Snake-Charmer automaton to be sold on June 24th, 2014

Just a few days from now, VERITAS Art Auctioneers in Lisbon, Portugal will be auctioning off a rare and important automaton. Titled "Zulma, La Charmeuse de Serpent" (Zulma, The Snake-Charmer), the piece was made by the famous by Gaston Decamps in 1907.

From the catalog description:

Rare automaton with winding mechanism and four melodies, resin and card face and body with joints hidden by jewels of oriental inspiration in gilt metal and paste On a painted wood base with coin slot and velvet carpet in green and red embroidered in metal yarn. This model shows the snake-charmer in a silk embroidered gown girded by a scarf When in movement the figure dances to the music and the snake’s head moves at the same rhythm.

I've seen one of these in person some years ago at a Skinner auction. It was stunning!

Contact information for VERITAS Art Auctioneers:
Address: Av. Elias Garcia, 157 A/B  1050-099 Lisboa, Portugal
Phone: +351 21 794 8000
Email: info@veritasleiloes.com
Web:  http://veritasleiloes.com

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WALKING BOX - sculpture by Virginio Moutinho

Back in June of 2007, I wrote a short post about the Virginio Moutinho -- a portuguese architect, sculptor and photographer. The video above shows a very charming work of kinetic scuplpture by the artist. The piece features a wooden box with a human-like hand. When activated, the box pulls itself forward with the hand. Very creative!

You can see more artistic works by Virginio Moutinho on his web site.

[ Thanks Joe! ]

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Featured Automaton Maker: Virginio Moutinho

Virginio Moutinho is an amazingly talented Portuguese architect, toy collector, and mechanical sculptor. His web site features many wonderful contemporary automata.

Of particular interest is the sculpture section of his site. If you stay on the main page of the sculpture section you will see a montage of his automata sketches. Use the numbers, then right and left arrows in the lower right corner to browse through the images of his work.

See the automata of Virginio Moutinho. Please note: some of the automata are of adult themes.