The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Object

David Roentgen's Automaton of Queen Marie Antoinette, The Dulcimer Player (La Joueuse de Tympanon)

Watch this surprising video of an automaton play the dulcimer.

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).

See the full video: http://www.cerimes.fr/le-catalogue/la-joueuse-de-tympanon.html

Footage courtesy of CERIMES.

Video/Audio (4)

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

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
(00:02:20) 11524 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 18103 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3147 views

The Annunciation

Date:: ca. 1500
Culture:: Italian, probably Florence
Medium:: Silk and linen
Dimensions:: L. 39 1/2 x W. 9 1/2 inches (100.3 x 24.1 cm)
Classification:: Textiles
Credit Line:: Rogers Fund, 1914
Accession Number:: 14.62.9

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 500

Description

Orphrey bands were intended to decorated priests’ chasubles or copes. Woven orphreys with figural designs were made as a less expensive alternative to embroidery from the late 14th century into the 16th century.
Provenance

Vitall Benguiat (until 1914)
See also
What
Silk (33,917)

Textiles (32,866)

Woven (11,539)

Linen (7,675)

Orphreys (106)
Where
Europe (150,419)

Italy (24,960)

Tuscany (1,191)

Florence (512)
When
A.D. 1400-1600 (20,608)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,228)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.
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