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) 10652 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16792 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3020 views

Table cover

Date:: 1606–41
Culture:: French
Medium:: Silk and wool on canvas
Dimensions:: L. 79 x W. 60 inches (200.7 x 152.4 cm)
Classification:: Textiles
Credit Line:: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Accession Number:: 64.101.1366

This artwork is not on display

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: Inscription reads: TAPIE COMMANCÉ / PAR MADEMOISELLE / MAD'SE'LE LE FRANCQ / EN L'AN 1606 / ACHEVÉ PAR LES / ANNONCIADES DE / LA VILLE DE DOUAY / EN L'AN 1641 (translation: "Carpet begun by Miss Le Francq in the year 1606 and completed by the nuns of the town of Douai in the year 1641")
Provenance

William Randolph Hearst ; Irwin Untermyer , New York (until 1964; to MMA)
See also
What
Silk (32,922)

Textiles (32,752)

Needlework (10,342)

Wool (9,527)

Furniture (5,725)

Embroidery (5,467)

Canvas (4,596)

Tables (974)
Where
Europe (148,586)

France (52,276)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,179)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,257)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
France, 1600–1800 A.D.