Automaton "Pierrots" Belle Époque head and hands in polychrome biscuit porcelain, body in wood, papier-mâché, and other materials, glass eyes, clothing in various fabrics, base in burgundy velvet working music box, mechanism with built-in key German 19th/20th C. minor defects, base with faults in the lace and stains on the velvet, mechanism requiring maintenance one sculpture marked GERMANY, another numbered 193 181 Dimensões (altura x comprimento x largura) - (total) 45,5 cm Notes: automata, also known as automatons, had movement and musical mechanisms, and typically represented children, animals, gypsies, and fortune tellers, but there was also a predilection for the grotesque, such as demons, sorcerers, snake charmers, and humans with animal faces. They were generally very expensive and were not considered children's toys in the true sense of the word, although children always remembered them since many of these automata were used in the windows of famous stores at Christmas and to advertise certain products