Incredible life-sized peacock automaton by James Cox created in 1777

The folks over at the amazing Atlas Obscura blog did a great round-up of animal themed automata the other day. Among them was this life size peacock automaton created in 1777 by James Cox. The automaton is The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

From the video description:

Peacock clock at the State Hermitage Museum in Russia. Made in the 18th century by James Cox, an English clock maker, and sold to Potemkin (a favorite of the Catherine the Great) as spare parts. It took 9 years for a Russian mechanic named Ivan Kulibin to put it together again. Well worth it. It is run only once a year during June to preserve the mechanism, so you have very few chance to see it work. Made of gilded bronze silver and glass, it measures 3 meters in height. The dial of the clock is embedded into the head of a mushroom with a dragonfly moving on top to indicate the time.

Here is the full article at Atlas Obsura titled Five Astounding Animal Automata.

[ Thanks Falk! ]

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A pedal-powered steampunk flying machine automaton

I love the sculptural detail of this motorized automaton: the ball chain used to drive parts of the mechanism, and the illuminated dirigible. According to Falk Keuten of the excellent Spiel und Kunst mit Mechanik blog, the piece is by Viktor Grigoriev from St.Petersburg, Russia's most famous automaton artist.

[ Thanks Christoph and Tom! ]

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Motorized mechanical beetle mounted with miniature cannons

Check out this amazing mechanical sculpture. It appears to be a metallic hybrid of an old war ship and a beetle. The piece was made by Russian artist Victor Plotnikov. I love it!

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How do you say "Steampunk Fish" in Russian?

Shown here is a mechanical sculpture titled Ferrum Fish. The piece is made of oak, lime, copper, forge steel, glass, sea shells, and other materials. From what I gather, this mechanical fish and several others like it were created by a collective of artists that go by the name Art Mechanicus or perhaps ArtMechanicus.

Sorry I can't say more about this amazing mechanical sculpture. The site is in Russian. At least I think it is; I simply can't read it.

Whatever the language, there are more photographs and videos to see if you head on over the ArtMechanicus.com.

[ Thanks David! ]

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Steam-powered kinetic sculpture/vehicle

From the YouTube desciption:

The objects were made by Vicktor Plotnikov, russian artist, the co-creator of the popular Snow Show, and the creator of the theatre 'White goat', which were popular in countries all over the world. This object combines the features of mechanical aircraft and insect. In addition, the sound gives the impression of presence on real airfield.

Here's a link to video of this steam-powered kinetic sculpture by Vicktor Plotnikov.

[ Thanks Kapitolina! ]

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Automata creations by Viktor Plotnikov

Check out these fantastic creations by Russian artist Viktor Plotnikov.

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