A RARE FRENCH BONE SPINNING JENNY AUTOMATA DIEPPE OR MERU, E

A RARE FRENCH BONE SPINNING JENNY AUTOMATA DIEPPE OR MERU, EARLY 19TH CENTURY Of carved, pierced and part polychrome decorated form, with two straw work platforms, upper level with standing female figure holding distaff behind a spinning wheel, a central, seated lady with distaff, with a pair dancing couple to one side, fiddler and two further female figures to the other side, lower level with pierced central wheel and two supporting cog wheels driving figures on the upper level, two huntsmen to the sides with long guns and dogs, the whole now set in a velvet based, ebonised base clock dome with glass dome the jenny 19cm high, the case 28cm high, 21.5cm wide Provenance: Works of Art from the collection of the late Roger Warner Esq, offered by his familyOften catalogued and referred to as Prisoner of war models, these rare automata were more likely to have been made by skilled craftsmen working in and around Méru in the Oise district between Paris and the sea. For related examples see Bonham's London, Marine Sale, 8th October 2014, Lot 28 (£15,000 incl. BP) and Skinners Boston, American Furniture & Decorative Arts, 4th March 2012, Lot 413 ($16,590 incl. BP).