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.

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

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
(00:02:20) 10583 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16547 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3012 views

Paris as a Youth

Date:: probably 1560–80
Culture:: Flemish, Brussels
Medium:: Wool, silk (18 warps per inch, 6-7 per cm.)
Dimensions:: H. 137 1/2 x W. 207 inches (349.3 x 525.8 cm)
Classification:: Textiles
Credit Line:: Gift of H. Edward Manville, 1941
Accession Number:: 41.203

This artwork is not on display

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: (in panel at center of top border) COSILIAT CANTV IVVENV PARIS OMNIV AMORE/DAT SOCYS FRVCTVS BALNEA MVLTA PETENS; (on bottom edge of Paris's tunic) ALEXAI (ALEXAAI?) (Free translation: Paris by his song gains the love of all the youths/He gives his companions fruits and visits [or seeks] many baths, by M. Milne, 26 N 46)
Provenance

[ Christie, Manson and Woods , London, May 18, 1911, no. 103; sold to Bush ] ; [ French and Co., New York ; sold to H. Edward Manville ] ; H. Edward Manville , Pleasantville, New York (until 1941; to MMA)
See also
What
Silk (32,922)

Textiles (32,752)

Wool (9,527)

Tapestries (2,187)
Where
Europe (148,586)

Belgium (1,232)

Brussels (289)
When
A.D. 1400-1600 (20,545)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,257)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Low Countries, 1400–1600 A.D.
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