31" (80cm) French Antique all original exceptional Black-Complexioned Minstrel Playing Banjo, papiermache faced by Vichy, circa 1885

31" (80cm) French Antique all original exceptional Black-Complexioned Minstrel Playing Banjo, papiermache faced by Vichy, circa 1885
Title
31" (80 cm.) Standing in a jaunty yet sophisticated manner upon a velvet-covered flat base with gilt ball feet is a black-complexioned paper mache man with highly characterized features, brown glass eyes, black sculpted brows, broad nose, very full lips with hidden hinge at lower lip, row of teeth, black fleecy hair, slender carton torso and legs, wire upper arms, and paper mache hands posed to hold the banjo. When wound, he moves his head in a complicated manner, his lower lip moves, and he strums the banjo, while musical tunes play. Condition is generally excellent, woking condition Comments: , made by Vichy, circa 1885.
amongst rarest Vichy made automaton, with especially fine detail of facial sculpting and having original finish, original antique silk costume.
exceptional quality and historical piece


Vichy, circa 1885. Value Points: rare Vichy automaton, with especially fine detail of facial sculpting and having original finish, original antique silk costume well preserved
a great big example and hard to find black model

VICHY AUTOMATONS :
The Frenchmen Gustave Vichy, born in 1839, grew up in his father's store which sold mechanical toys. After his father's bankruptcy Vichy, at the age of twenty-three, decided to create his own factory creating automatons with an intended focus on the production of musical automatons.

PAYPAL accepted
layaway accepted
video UPPON REQUEST+


HISTORY OF BLACK MINSTRELS:
Black minstrels
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century.[1] The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of comically portraying racial stereotypes of African Americans. There were also some African-American performers and black-only minstrel groups that formed and toured. Minstrel shows stereotyped blacks as dimwitted, lazy, buffoonish, cowardly, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.[2][3] Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent.
In the 1840s and '50s, William Henry Lane and Thomas Dilward became the first African Americans to perform on the minstrel stage.[66] All-black troupes followed as early as 1855. These companies emphasized that their ethnicity made them the only true delineators of black song and dance, with one advertisement describing a troupe as "SEVEN SLAVES just from Alabama, who are EARNING THEIR FREEDOM by giving concerts under the guidance of their Northern friends."[67] White curiosity proved a powerful motivator, and the shows were patronized by people who wanted to see blacks acting "spontaneously" and "naturally."[68] Promoters seized on this, one billing his troupe as "THE DARKY AS HE IS AT HOME, DARKY LIFE IN THE CORNFIELD, Canebrake, BARNYARD, AND ON THE LEVEE AND FLATBOAT.