19" Perfect Antique Rarest French Musical Automaton "Astronome" by Roullet et Decamps, bisque heads , Paris circa 1890

19" (46 cm.) excluding hat. Arranged upon a velvet-covered base are two bisque-head figures,including the lady astronomer,and her little pupil,each with paperweight eyes,painted features,and closed mouth,She is holding a teaching rod in her hand,and he is standing in front of a wooden telescope. When wound,music plays and the astronomer alternately turns her head,instructs by moving the teaching wand,and then lifts her left hand up and down as though calling for the pupil's attention. Meanwhile,he leans forward and back as though peering into the telescope
. Music plays. Condition is generally excellent, mechanism and music function well.
Roullet et Decamps,the automaton appeared in the firms's catalog as #264 named "Astronome",circa 1890.
rare and delightful mechanical automaton,the dolls (one by Jumeau,one by Gaultier) are wearing luxurious silk costumes with rich gilt decorations.


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HISTORY MAKER AUTOMATON _
Roullet & Decamps was a French toy manufacturing company operating in the 19th and 20th centuries, which specialized in automata. Founded in 1865 by Jean Roullet, the firm took the name Roullet-Decamps in 1889, 10 years after the marriage of the daughter of Jean Roullet to Ernest Decamps, a mechanical engineer by trade. The firm ceased operations in 1995. Collections of their wares are on exhibit to the public in two French museums
The Roullet-Decamps history has been documented comprehensively in the outstanding work of Christian Bailly and Sharon Bailly, Automata, The Golden Age 1848 - 1914, (English edition, Sotheby's, London, 1987) at pp. 113-153. When that book was published, Roullet and Decamps was still in business at nos. 17-19 Rue Amelot, in the Marais district of Paris, making electrically-operated automated displays for department store windows and special events.


1866 Jean Roullet, a builder of mechanical devices, opened a workshop in Paris specializing in precision metal work.
1889 Ernest Decamps was made a partner in the firm, now to be called "Roullet and Decamps." At this time, 50 people worked there, including machinists, clockmakers, sculptors, and dressmakers. All of these were required in order to produce automatons.

1900 The first electric automatons were made, for commercial displays. Also, Ernest Decamps' eldest son Gaston entered the School of Decorative Arts and the Academy of Beaux-Arts. As Gaston became more and more active in the family firm, his talent and ingenuity became apparent in the firm's automatons, both in the quality of the sculpturing and molding of the figures and in the ingenious realism of their movements.