A rare acrobat automaton by Renou,

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A rare acrobat automaton by Renou,
with papier-mâché head, smiling mouth, painted teeth, fixed brown glass eyes under arched black brows, blue and yellow clown's wig with topknot and bisque hands, balancing between two white-painted wood chairs on coloured carpet, the going-barrel movement in the base playing one air and causing the figure to slowly push the chairs apart lifting his body at ninety degress, then rising to a vertical handstand position, arching his back and forking his legs, moving his head to balance before lowering himself to the ground, in the original yellow bolero jacket decorated with blue sequins and large silk-covered buttons, ruff, and pale blue pleated panatloons -- 20½in. (52cm.) in handstand, (blue satin disintegrating, one thumb missing, good movement and tone), circa 1890.

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No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

The firm of Dehais & Laforest (later Renou) was formed in around 1847 at 47 rue Aumaire, specialising in toys and novelties. In 1871 the firm moved to 5 rue de Montmorency, where director Verger was succeeded by Louis Renou in 1871. Renou took the firm in a new direction and used his experience in toy making to create a new type of automaton aimed at the popular market. Automata by Renou are generally smaller and more toy-like than the work of his contemporaries Vichy, Lambert and Roullet & Decamps.

While their inspiration was often in these larger pieces (the acrobat was probably inspired by Vichy's gymnast with chairs), Renou's automata often displayed a whimsical sense of humour and incorporated a joke element: a grinning devil appears from a theatrephone to surprise a listener, or a maid is frightened when the eyes of a portrait she is dusting begin to move. Louis Renou retired in 1922, leaving the business to his son Ludovic, who modernised the business as his father had done, turning his attention away from automata.

The acrobat is one of the rarest and most complex pieces produced by Renou.

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