A LOUIS-PHILIPPE ORMOLU 'L'ESCAMOTEUR CHINOIS' AUTOMATON CLOCK BY JEAN-EUGENE ROBERT-HOUDIN,...
Modeled as a Chinese magician performing a cup-and-ball trick, on a plinth base centered by a dial signed 'J.F. HOUDIN' and raised on dragon-form feet, the curtain at the front of the magician's table removable, opening to a plaque engraved 'INVENTÉ ET ÉXECUTÉ, A LA FABRIQUE D'HORLOGERIE DE / J.F. HOUDIN, RUE VIELLE DU TEMPLE No. 78 A PARIS. / 1836'
173⁄4 in. (45.5 cm.) high, 121⁄2 in. (32 cm.) wide, 71⁄2 in. (19.5 cm.) deep
Provenance
Acquired from the London Antique Clock Centre, 2002.
Lot Essay
THE AUTOMATON CLOCKS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN
This enchanting ‘Chinese Conjurer’ clock is an early work by the extraordinary clockmaker, inventor and stage magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), produced in the workshop of his father-in-law, the esteemed horloger Jacques-François Houdin (1783-1860). The elder was born in Blois, where he worked until 1820, before departing to Paris where he initially worked for Abraham-Louis Breguet, then in his final years. The younger was also born in Blois, under the name Jean-Eugène Robert, and moved to Paris in 1830 where he married Josèphe Cecile Houdin—the daughter of Jacques-François—joining his name with hers and taking occupation in her father’s workshop.
From the mid-1830s, Robert-Houdin developed automata and novel ‘mystery clocks’ of an exceptional standard. He developed the present Escamoteur or 'Conjurer' model in this period (as documented by the date of 1836 on this lot), and received a bronze model for it, as well as for the invention of the mystery clock, at the ninth Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in 1839. At the same exposition, his work was viewed and greatly admired by King Louis-Philippe, and he sold a celebrated writing automaton to P.T. Barnum for American Museum, for the huge sum of $4,000.
Although Robert-Houdin was the author of the Conjurer Clock, the inscription to our example concludes ‘J.F. Houdin’, reflecting the old French workshop practice by which only the master’s name would be attached to a finished product. Indeed, from 1845-1859 when the elder Houdin worked as chef d’atelier to Constantin-Louis Detouche, his creations bore the signature of his own new employer. Robert-Houdin, during this period, appears to have found commercial demand for his Chinese Conjurer clocks: known examples exist in two sizes, and at the time of Josèphe Cecile’s death in 1844, a 'well-advanced' example still in progress was recorded in the inventory of his workshop, valued in its incomplete state at 280 francs. The brass models used to create new instances of the clock are also recorded in the same inventory, with their value determined to be 400 francs. For a thorough discussion of the model, as well as the conventions of marking, see C. Fechner, The Magic of Robert-Houdin: An Artist's Life, vol. I, Boulogne, 2002, pp. 145-151 and 208, figs. 184-185, color pls. XII-XIII.
The main effect of our clock, a parlor magician performing a classic feat of close-up magic, is achieved by an ingenious disc concealed beneath the conjurer’s table. As it spins, it raises two of sixteen discs to the level of the table, so that each time the figure raises the cups in his hands, a new surprise appears beneath as if by magic. The curtain across the front of the table is easily removed to reveal the secret mechanism, suggesting that its maker expected the owner to enjoy watching the works as much as the trick. The subject is fitting for Robert-Houdin, a pioneering stage illusionist who would come to be called the 'father of modern magic'. He opened his own theater, the Soirées Fantastiques, in the Palais-Royal on 3 July 1845, which found an audience among the best of Paris society, and grew as a celebrity throughout the following decades, touring internationally and performing for both Napoleon III and Queen Victoria. In the United States, his name lives on most famously in the stage name Harry Houdini, adopted by Ehrich Weiss, a great admirer in his early career.
Despite his success on the stage, however, Robert-Houdin did not abandon his mechanical works. He entered his inventions in the exhibitions of 1844 and 1855, receiving silver and gold medals, and exhibited all kinds of unusual automata and clocks at his Palais-Royal headquarters. Even his theatrical posters made reference to his work in objects: one example, advertising the Soirées Fantastiques, proclaimed “M. Robert-Houdin undertakes the repair of all kinds of automata and complicated mechanical pieces” (A. Chapuis & E. Droz, Automata: A Historical and Technological Study, Neuchatel, 1958, p. 309). At the sale of his estate at Hôtel Drouot in November 1871, a great list of mechanical pieces and apparatuses appeared in the catalogue, including a mechanical devil's head, a mechanical trapeze still in progress, a large mechanical acrobat and, just as in the 1844 inventory, a Chinese automaton (C. Fechner, op. cit. vol II, p. 388).
Examples of this model have been sold Chayette & Cheval, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 27 June 2023, lot 58 (€32,050); one from the Magic Collection of David Baldwin, sold Potter & Potter, Chicago, 29 October 2016, lot 106 ($33,600); Toomey & Co., Oak Park, 6 February 2016, lot 220 ($48,800); and Sworders, Stansted, 20 September 2005, lot 521 (£11,500).
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Modeled as a Chinese magician performing a cup-and-ball trick, on a plinth base centered by a dial signed 'J.F. HOUDIN' and raised on dragon-form feet, the curtain at the front of the magician's table removable, opening to a plaque engraved 'INVENTÉ ET ÉXECUTÉ, A LA FABRIQUE D'HORLOGERIE DE / J.F. HOUDIN, RUE VIELLE DU TEMPLE No. 78 A PARIS. / 1836'
173⁄4 in. (45.5 cm.) high, 121⁄2 in. (32 cm.) wide, 71⁄2 in. (19.5 cm.) deep
Provenance
Acquired from the London Antique Clock Centre, 2002.
Lot Essay
THE AUTOMATON CLOCKS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN
This enchanting ‘Chinese Conjurer’ clock is an early work by the extraordinary clockmaker, inventor and stage magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), produced in the workshop of his father-in-law, the esteemed horloger Jacques-François Houdin (1783-1860). The elder was born in Blois, where he worked until 1820, before departing to Paris where he initially worked for Abraham-Louis Breguet, then in his final years. The younger was also born in Blois, under the name Jean-Eugène Robert, and moved to Paris in 1830 where he married Josèphe Cecile Houdin—the daughter of Jacques-François—joining his name with hers and taking occupation in her father’s workshop.
From the mid-1830s, Robert-Houdin developed automata and novel ‘mystery clocks’ of an exceptional standard. He developed the present Escamoteur or 'Conjurer' model in this period (as documented by the date of 1836 on this lot), and received a bronze model for it, as well as for the invention of the mystery clock, at the ninth Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in 1839. At the same exposition, his work was viewed and greatly admired by King Louis-Philippe, and he sold a celebrated writing automaton to P.T. Barnum for American Museum, for the huge sum of $4,000.
Although Robert-Houdin was the author of the Conjurer Clock, the inscription to our example concludes ‘J.F. Houdin’, reflecting the old French workshop practice by which only the master’s name would be attached to a finished product. Indeed, from 1845-1859 when the elder Houdin worked as chef d’atelier to Constantin-Louis Detouche, his creations bore the signature of his own new employer. Robert-Houdin, during this period, appears to have found commercial demand for his Chinese Conjurer clocks: known examples exist in two sizes, and at the time of Josèphe Cecile’s death in 1844, a 'well-advanced' example still in progress was recorded in the inventory of his workshop, valued in its incomplete state at 280 francs. The brass models used to create new instances of the clock are also recorded in the same inventory, with their value determined to be 400 francs. For a thorough discussion of the model, as well as the conventions of marking, see C. Fechner, The Magic of Robert-Houdin: An Artist's Life, vol. I, Boulogne, 2002, pp. 145-151 and 208, figs. 184-185, color pls. XII-XIII.
The main effect of our clock, a parlor magician performing a classic feat of close-up magic, is achieved by an ingenious disc concealed beneath the conjurer’s table. As it spins, it raises two of sixteen discs to the level of the table, so that each time the figure raises the cups in his hands, a new surprise appears beneath as if by magic. The curtain across the front of the table is easily removed to reveal the secret mechanism, suggesting that its maker expected the owner to enjoy watching the works as much as the trick. The subject is fitting for Robert-Houdin, a pioneering stage illusionist who would come to be called the 'father of modern magic'. He opened his own theater, the Soirées Fantastiques, in the Palais-Royal on 3 July 1845, which found an audience among the best of Paris society, and grew as a celebrity throughout the following decades, touring internationally and performing for both Napoleon III and Queen Victoria. In the United States, his name lives on most famously in the stage name Harry Houdini, adopted by Ehrich Weiss, a great admirer in his early career.
Despite his success on the stage, however, Robert-Houdin did not abandon his mechanical works. He entered his inventions in the exhibitions of 1844 and 1855, receiving silver and gold medals, and exhibited all kinds of unusual automata and clocks at his Palais-Royal headquarters. Even his theatrical posters made reference to his work in objects: one example, advertising the Soirées Fantastiques, proclaimed “M. Robert-Houdin undertakes the repair of all kinds of automata and complicated mechanical pieces” (A. Chapuis & E. Droz, Automata: A Historical and Technological Study, Neuchatel, 1958, p. 309). At the sale of his estate at Hôtel Drouot in November 1871, a great list of mechanical pieces and apparatuses appeared in the catalogue, including a mechanical devil's head, a mechanical trapeze still in progress, a large mechanical acrobat and, just as in the 1844 inventory, a Chinese automaton (C. Fechner, op. cit. vol II, p. 388).
Examples of this model have been sold Chayette & Cheval, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 27 June 2023, lot 58 (€32,050); one from the Magic Collection of David Baldwin, sold Potter & Potter, Chicago, 29 October 2016, lot 106 ($33,600); Toomey & Co., Oak Park, 6 February 2016, lot 220 ($48,800); and Sworders, Stansted, 20 September 2005, lot 521 (£11,500).
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Estimate
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