The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Object

Demonstration of David Roentgen's Automaton of Queen Marie Antoinette, The Dulcimer Player

Watch a demonstration of Queen Marie Antoinette's Automaton playing one of eight melodies it can perform.

David Roentgen (1743–1807) took his royal patron by surprise when he delivered this beautiful automaton to King Louis XVI for his queen, Marie Antoinette, in 1784. The cabinetry for this piece is very much a neoclassical masterwork, and the mechanism behind it is truly extraordinary: the figure strikes the strings in perfect rhythm with two small metal hammers held in her hands, which move with great precision.

This object, from the Musée des arts et métiers de Paris, is featured in the exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens (on view October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).

View a full documentary featuring this object: http://www.cerimes.fr/le-catalogue/la-joueuse-de-tympanon.html

Footage courtesy of CERIMES.

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock
(00:00:52)

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
(00:02:20) 10679 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16910 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3027 views

Punch bowl

Date:: 1744
Culture:: Chinese
Medium:: Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions:: H. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm.); Diam. 11 1/4 in. (28.6 cm.)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Gift of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 1933
Accession Number:: 33.133

This artwork is not on display

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: [1] The Haeslingfield/In Prosperity/Sept br e y 1th,/1743/jams Beech Fecit (on outside) [2] Robt; Stockdall/Canton;/Ianry e y 1st;/1743 4/Jams; Beech Fecit (on outside) [3] The Haeslingfield In Distress Septbr 12th 1743 (on inside) Both times it appears the name of Beech is written in an attempted script, clearly in imitation of the artist's signature. (CLC 23 June 71)
Provenance

Mrs. J. Insley Blair (until 1933; to MMA)
See also
What
Ceramics (29,320)

Clay (23,649)

Faience (11,698)

Porcelain (11,369)

Bowls (5,014)

Hard paste porcelain (2,917)

Punch bowls (39)
Where
Asia (68,071)

China (17,417)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,179)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,257)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
China, 1600–1800 A.D.

Central and North Asia, 1600–1800 A.D.