CANVASES, CARATS AND CURIOSITIES

Uncover the fascinating history behind automata as we delve into the intricate mechanisms and mesmerizing melodies that have delighted generations.

The history of automata and mechanical music is inextricably linked to humankind’s pursuit of knowledge: knowledge of science, knowledge of engineering and knowledge of our own humanity. Combining technical skill and artistry, automata, music boxes and singing bird boxes possess an intrinsic elegance and charm that continue to enchant onlookers to this day, even in an age of modern, on-demand entertainment.

 

French Musical Automaton Picture Clock. Circa 1880. M.S. Rau.

Human-shaped machines that convey the illusion of being alive, delightful little birds that plump their feathers and sing a tune, automatic music players that perform on par with a concert pianist... these captivating, ingenious and mysterious machines represent a remarkable history of invention, philosophical curiosity and popular culture that remains highly relevant.

History

Astronomical clock Cathédrale Notre Dame Strasbourg France. 2022. Source.
The history of musical machines is inextricably linked to the history of clocks. The same highly complex clockwork mechanisms that powered the great timepieces of the 16th and 17th centuries informed the creation of later automata, singing bird boxes and music boxes. In fact, the link between the clock and the automaton is seen as early as 3000 B.C.E., when Egyptian water clocks were equipped with human figurines possessing the ability to strike a bell on the hour.
The Strasbourg astronomical clock located in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame of Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is exemplary of the close ties between the development of the clock and the automaton. First built in 1352-54, it was later reconstructed in 1571-74 and featured several mechanical figures, as well as a calendar, orrery and other astronomical complexities. The addition of the moving figures made the religious message of the timepiece and its setting more vivid. In one particularly poignant group of figures, the twelve apostles parade before Jesus, who is depicted blessing each in turn. Although the clock in place today dates to the 19th century, fragments of earlier clocks are kept in the Strasbourg Museum for Decorative Arts, including the 14th-century gilded rooster, which is considered the oldest preserved automaton in the world.

As clockmakers of the 17th and 18th centuries invented increasingly more complex clockwork mechanisms, they turned their attention to other challenges in the form of automata, bird boxes and music boxes. These mechanical wonders soon became highly coveted objects of luxury entertainment for the wealthy classes, setting the stage for major technological

Musical Automatons

Automata in the Age of Enlightenment

“As the enlightenment grows... the human mind seems to expand, and its limits are receding.”
— Marquis de Condorcet
The Age of Enlightenment (1685-1815) brought with it a new fascination for automata outside of their mere mechanics. During this period, European intellectuals embarked on a quest to uncover the secrets of the universe, which suddenly seemed within reach. Certain discoveries, such as the English physician William Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood in 1628, suggested that the basic functions and mechanics of the human body were knowable. Naturally, mechanisms that imitated the human form and human activities emerged soon thereafter.
Descartes view of animals as machines is a revelation into this progression: “Consider the body as a machine, which, having been made by the hands of God, is incomparably better coordinated and has much more admirable movement in it than any of those which could be invented by man.” Accordingly, these early androids were artificial creations that sought to mimic that which was made by God, possessing the appearance of a living being from their physical forms to their essential functions.
Jacques de Vaucanson, French artist and inventor. Circa 1784. Source. It was during the Age of Enlightenment when one of the most famous names in the history of automata first emerged: Jacques de Vaucanson. Born in Grenoble in 1709, Vaucanson was an artist and inventor who is largely credited as the father of the automaton and the creator of the world’s first robot. In 1738, he presented a highly complex flute-player automaton at the Académie Royale des Sciences. This flûteur actually played his instrument rather than just mimicking the act: the combined movements of the automaton’s lips and fingers played the flute as a human would. He was even capable of producing octave leaps.
Vaucanson’s automation. Circa 1746. Source. That same year, Vaucanson exhibited his flûteur to the general public alongside a mechanical duck and a tambourine player. Though the “breathing” flute player may seem more amazing today, it was the duck that attracted the French public’s attention. Not only did Vaucanson’s duck flap his wings and move his beak, but it also ate and “digested” its food, which it also excreted. Its inventor described it as follows: “In this duck, I present the mechanism of the viscera... perceive that the animal drinks, splashes in the water with its beak, quacks like a real duck, and imitates all the movements of a living animal.”
The Dulcimer Player Automaton by Joseph Möllinger. Circa 1770. M.S. Rau.

Highly Complex Automata

Musicians were popular subjects for automata. Perhaps the world’s most famous automaton is La Joueuse de Tympanon, the dulcimer player made by Pierre Kintzing (1745-1816) for Queen Marie Antoinette in 1784 (Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris). Like Vaucanson’s flûteur, Kintzing’s dulcimer player was likely based on a prototype by Joseph Möllinger (1715–1772), an instrument-maker and clockmaker at the court in Zweibrücken. Part of a small, but influential community of Mennonite clockmakers, it is known that Möllinger taught clockmaking to Kinzing – the man who would later construct the mechanism for the Marie Antoinette dulcimer player.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz’s Harpsichord Player, Writer and Draughtsman, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Neuchâtel. A final trio needs to be mentioned in any discussion of early automata — Pierre Jaquet-Droz’s Harpsichord Player, Writer and Draughtsman (Musée d’Art et d’Histoire of Neuchâtel). Like Möllinger and Kintzing’s machines, Jacquet-Droz’s musician played her own music, pressing the keys of her harpsichord with her fingers while “following” the movement with her eyes. She even “breathed” and adjusted her torso as a human pianist would. The Writer and Draughtsman were equally as lifelike, the former writing any custom text up to 40 characters in length, while the latter drew portraits of the king, the royal couple and even a dog. The automata were highly popular at the time of their creation, embarking on a European tour in 1775, during which they were admired by Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
Highly complex and awe-inspiring, these early automata of Vaucanson, Möllinger, Kintzing and Jaquet-Droz were, first and foremost, a means by which these artists, clockmakers and inventors promoted their services to the royal family and nobility. These princely diversions represented the great masterpieces of their time, and only a small handful remain today. However, with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the automaton emerged as a popular form of entertainment for the masses. Though these later creations were less complex than their predecessors, they had lost their elitism, and mechanical dolls, singing birds and tableaux vivante were produced for the entertainment of the masses.

Automata and the Modern Era

French Walking Peacock Automaton by Roullet et Decamps. Circa 1890. M.S. Rau. The Industrial Revolution brought change to all sectors of society, the toymaking industry included. Thanks to a rapidly expanding middle class, a growing group of clientele emerged who were able and willing to pay for novelty items such as automata. Firms such as Roullet et Decamps, Bontems and Théroude became the first mass producers of these charming “toys,” most of which contained a small cylinder music box that played as an automaton performed its motions.

 

Tightrope Walker Automaton. Circa 1860. M.S. Rau.

Innovative Toys

The majority of these musical and mechanical figurines were influenced by the entertainment of their time and place. Paris during the Belle Époque was a whirlwind of lavish affairs and exotic amusements. The snake charmers and exotic dancers of the famed Folies-Bergère inspired a number of toymakers of the age, while the characters of the Nouveau Cirque and other circuses provided inspiration in the form of jugglers, animal trainers and clowns. These characters and more came to life in 19th-century drawing rooms thanks to the ingenuity and creativity of modern toymakers.
The author of Automata Old And New (1893), Conrad William Cooke, describes this golden age of the automata:
“No one who is familiar with the great European capitals can have failed to notice in the windows of the higher class of toy-shops, clockwork automata of various kinds. We have jugglers and rope dancers, conjurers, pianists, violinists, harpists and trumpeters... figures fighting, knitting, sewing, writing and engaged in almost every occupation performed by human beings.”
These creations so aptly described by Cooke were not only a unique form of entertainment for the home, but they also represent a unique snapshot of their age. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, they give a small glimpse into the future, presaging the emergence of both animations and cinema in the decades that would follow.
French Bulldog Growler Toy. 19th Century. M.S. Rau. This new popularity and availability of the automaton would not have been possible without the cutting edge machinery and production techniques that emerged during the Industrial Revolution. Because they were, in part, machine-made, these automata were far less complex than the handful of pieces made a century earlier by the likes of Vaucanson and Möllinger. However, they were still expensive, sporting a price tag that made them available to only the most affluent upper and middle-class families. And, like their predecessors, the very best and most elaborate automata went on display at the great international exhibitions, where they frequently attracted crowds of admirers — and new commissions for their makers.
The popularity of the automata reached its zenith during the 19th century, when these animated figures became not only a significant form of entertainment, but also an important status symbol in parlors across France and England. With their ability to move, to entertain, with a nearly magical sense of illusion, these clockwork machines represented the public’s fascination with the extraordinary. To quench this desire for the unusual, makers developed automata in a range of forms. However, one group in particular focused on complex miniature music boxes with a very special hidden twist — the singing bird box.

Bird Boxes

Pierre Jaquet-Droz, who had helped bring about the golden age of musical automata with his aforementioned Harpsichord Player, Writer and Draughtsman, created another mechanical marvel around 1785: the singing bird box. He built upon his knowledge of miniature musical mechanisms to develop a small box containing a tiny, singing automaton bird. At first, Jaquet-Droz created larger-scale caged singing birds that sung with the help of a miniature pipe organ, an instrument that required a separate pipe for each note. He successfully simplified this pipe-organ mechanism into a single pipe of variable pitch and further miniaturized it into a snuff box-sized form that could fit into the palm of one’s hand. Owing to their inherent charm and ingenious construction, these novel “noblemen’s toys” immediately enchanted 18th-century Europe’s high society.

 

Sèvres Porcelain-Mounted Bird Cage Music Box. Circa 1880. M.S. Rau.

Their form was inspired, in part, by the snuff boxes, or tabatières (the French word for tobacco), that were then highly fashionable status symbols among European nobility. The word tabatière evolved to include bird boxes, and the term distinguishes them from their larger, caged counterparts. Bird boxes may closely resemble snuff boxes in terms of both size and artistry, but where they differ is in what they contain.

Bird boxes are comprised of two separate parts: its rectangular case and the movement that animates the bird and plays its song. This usually necessitated two completely different makers: a watchmaker for the internal mechanism and a jeweler for the case. Because bird boxes were the playthings of nobility, their cases were almost always crafted from precious materials like gold, tortoiseshell, porcelain or enamel that was elaborately decorated.

 

Bruguier Tortoiseshell Swiss Fusée Singing Bird Box. Circa 1840. M.S. Rau.

An oval panel at the top of the case springs open with the push of a button, revealing the brightly-feathered bird automaton and prompting it to sing its song. Adding to its luxury, the bird itself is adorned with real hummingbird feathers chosen for their vibrant, iridescent colors. When the birdsong ends, the automaton ducks back down into the box, and the lid closes.

The movement contained inside the case is designed to do two jobs — play the birdsong and animate the automaton. It is fitted with a winding watch mechanism that operates bellows and several cams. The bellows created the bird’s whistling, while the cams controlled the notes produced by the whistle and the motions of the bird.

The earliest bird boxes, dating from approximately 1785 until about 1865, were powered by a fusée movement that combined a flat mainstay barrel with a conical, or fusée, barrel. When wound, a chain wraps around the conical barrel and gradually unwinds when the mechanism is activated, allowing for a longer, more lifelike animation than their later counterparts.

 

Swiss Gold Singing Bird Box by Bruguier. Circa 1840. M.S. Rau.

Following Jaquet-Droz’s innovations in the artform, a number of other Swiss artisans began putting their own stamp on bird boxes in the 19th century, including Jacob Frisard, Frères Rochat and Charles Bruguier — all important names in the history of musical tabatières. Frisard innovated the art form with a cam cut into a continuous spiral, which allowed for a perfectly unbroken song. The Rochat brothers, who were originally employed by the Jaquet-Droz firm, established their own firm and gained a reputation for their high quality, meticulously crafted bird boxes. They were known, in particular, for the size of their boxes; they were able to create mechanisms that could fit into boxes significantly smaller than their competitors. Bruguier improved upon Jaquet-Droz’s designs and built a mechanism that could extend the birdsong by around 30 seconds.

While the Swiss dominated the singing bird box industry of the early 19th century, France and Germany took the lead in their production in the second half of the century. French clockmaker Blaise Bontems founded his firm in 1849 and first exhibited life-sized caged bird automatons at the London Exhibition of 1851 before beginning production of singing bird boxes in the 1870s. He developed his own mechanism to replace the fusée movements of the Swiss makers, instead using a simple going-barrel. He also reduced the amount of cams needed and simplified the bellows. These tweaks would become the standard for musical tabatières into the 20th century, and Bontems is now regarded as the father of the modern singing bird box.

 

Silver Fusée Singing Bird Box by Charles Bruguier. Circa 1860. M.S. Rau.

Bird box production in the 20th century was dominated by one name — Karl Griesbaum. Founded in 1905 in Triberg, Germany, Griesbaum’s firm began with making clocks in the Black Forest tradition before turning to bird boxes. He manufactured a range of boxes at three different price points, making them affordable to a wider swath of customers. Only one song and one type of movement (similar to Bontems) was available, but three different build qualities were offered. Known for their impeccable construction and for their unique novelty designs, Griesbaum’s creations enjoyed great popularity, and the firm was prolific in its production well into the 1980s.

Throughout the decades of their manufacture, each element of these singing bird boxes was entirely hand-crafted and made especially for that particular box. Both charming and mechanically complex, they combine artistry with technical prowess — a balance that the makers of self-playing music boxes also strove to achieve.

Music Boxes

Carillon in the Belfort of Gent. 2012. Source.

Early Beginnings

Like the automaton and the singing bird box, the first music boxes date to the 18th century, when inventors obsession with clockwork mechanisms was at its height. However, the concept of a machine that played music was first manifested in the carillon, a system of bells found in the towers of churches and government buildings used to indicate the time of day, church services or secular village events. Emerging in 1510 in Flanders, the carillon incorporated bells that spanned more than an octave and played from a rotating cylinder with stick-like keys corresponding to a particular bell. The earliest of these systems required a “ringer,” known as a carillonneur or “carillonist,” who played the keyboard and pedalboard, though later examples were automated.

Since carillons and large clocks both resided within the same church belfries throughout Europe, merging the two mechanisms with a giant automated cylinder was a natural progression. The large cylinder — called a drum — contained pins corresponding to a series of levers and hammers connected to bells. Turning the drum at an even tempo rang the bells, producing a melody and effectively achieving automated music for the first time.

Swiss Ideal Music Box and Cabinet by Mermod Frères. Circa 1886. M.S. Rau. Thanks to these early innovations, the history of the music box as we know it begins with Genevan watchmaker Antoine Favre's 1796 discovery of the cylinder music movement. These musical cylinders all operate on the same principle: steel pins or combs of different lengths are plucked as the cylinder rotates, producing a note with each pluck. The combs are tuned to the musical scale and arranged like a keyboard in order to produce a melody. Favre, unfortunately, never enjoyed success from his discovery; poor health forced his retirement, and he died a poor man. However, by the early 19th century, other Swiss craftsmen and horologists were applying the cylinder comb technology to their own creations, giving rise to the cylinder music box industry. Switzerland remained the center of music box production throughout the invention’s prime, and they were an important Swiss export during the second half of the 19th century. In total, an estimated 10,000 artisans were employed in the Swiss music box industry. Makers such as Nicole Frères, B.A. Bremond, Mermod Frères and Charles Paillard came on the scene, creating some of the most beautiful cylinder boxes ever devised. Many of the most prized examples incorporated automatons that danced along to a tune or even other instruments like drums, bells, mandolins and castanets.
Grand Format Cylinder Music Box by Nicole Frères. Circa 1850. M.S. Rau.

German Innovation

In 1885, another music box innovation appeared, this time in Germany — the disc-playing musical box. These discs operated on the same principle as the cylinders utilizing tuned steel combs, but they instead plucked the teeth with a rotating tinplate disc punctured with a series of holes representing the melody. But perhaps the more important distinction was the disc’s manufacturing process and the format’s resulting accessibility. Whole cylinder music boxes did provide automated musical entertainment for the home, they were large, costly to manufacture and even more costly to purchase. Some even cost more than a year’s wages for the average worker. Furthermore, the number of songs available was limited by the very nature of the cylinders’ complex production. Discs, on the other hand, were considerably less expensive and easier to produce. This meant that automated music boxes were now accessible to upper-middle class families instead of only the most elite members of society.

Despite this innovation, the booming music box industry waned towards the turn of the 20th century. With the invention of Thomas Edison’s phonograph in 1877 and Alexander Graham Bell’s gramophone in 1885, the science of at-home entertainment was changing rapidly. These advances provided music that was much more complex, naturalistic and varied than the steel combs of music boxes could ever produce.

 

Mermod Fréres Station Cylinder Music Box. Circa 1890. M.S. Rau.

Self-Playing Instruments

While music boxes were criticized for producing sounds too rigid and formal, the introduction of the player piano, or pianola, late in the 19th century gave the world a version of mechanized music virtually identical to a live performance. The first practical self-playing piano was invented by Edwin S. Votey and manufactured by the Aeolian Co. out of New York. It utilized perforated paper rolls, similar in concept to disc music boxes, and a pneumatic device used to inflate bellows to control the notes played. Automated player instruments like this could produce a wider range of notes than a cylinder or disc music boxes, and the effect was one of much greater artistic expression. Additionally, paper rolls were far more inexpensive and less labor-intensive to produce, opening up a wide world of songs both new and old that could be purchased for one’s instrument.

Arburo Orchestrion Organ by Bursens and Roels. Circa 1928-29.

Building upon these innovations, devices like the Orchestrion and the Violano-Virtuoso were born. These automated music makers included even more instruments, from violins to organs to accordions to drums. Essentially oversized music boxes, these grand creations were made for entertaining large dance halls or delight visitors in luxury hotel lobbies and cafes as a substitute for a live band. Massive public instruments like these operated on paper rolls and possessed powerful motors, pipes and vacuums to control the instruments, producing sounds more musical than any mechanical music machine that had come before.

Still, the automated music maker’s popularity continued to dwindle in the 20th century. The breakout of World War I and then the devastating economic impact of the Great Depression along with new technologies meant that there simply was no longer a market for these devices, and a once booming industry deteriorated. However, their rich legacy, delicate artistry and amazing complexity ensure that they remain objects of fascination for historians and collectors alike.

The Mills Double DeLuxe Violano Virtuoso. Circa 1920. M.S. Rau.