The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Vase (one of a pair)

Art Object

Program Information

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

Program information

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.

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David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock
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The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
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Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
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Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
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Browse current and upcoming exhibitions and events.

CANCELED: Exhibition Tour—Plain or Fancy?: Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts
June 20, 2013
Gallery Talk and Demonstration—Roentgen Furniture
July 12, 2013
Summer Sketching—European Sculpture (Ages 11–18)
July 24, 2013
Exhibition Tour—Plain or Fancy?: Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts
July 25, 2013
Conversation with a Curator and a Conservator—The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
August 2, 2013
Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution
August 6, 2013

Vase (one of a pair)

Meissen Manufactory (German, 1710–present)

Factory director:: Böttger Period (1713–1720)
Decorator:: Ignaz Preissler (1676–1753)
Date:: ca. 1720–25
Culture:: German (Meissen)
Medium:: Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions:: Overall (confirmed): 8 9/16 x 4 7/16 x 3 3/4 in. (21.7 x 11.3 x 9.5 cm)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Accession Number:: 64.101.146

This artwork is not on display

120018630