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Lot Essay
FOR THE CHINESE MARKET
Caterpillar or silkworm? This incredible automaton is part of a small group of less than ten similar automata created in the early 19th century as part of a larger menagerie of zoomorphic automata intended for the Chinese market. Indeed, the caterpillar or more precisely silkworm is a powerful symbol of transformation, industry, patience and resilience in Chinese culture.
LA CHENILLE D’OR : A MECHANICAL WONDER
Described as ‘an Ethiopian chenille d’or’ in an advertisement of 1811 and as ‘An extraordinary and minute copy of animated nature’ in the 1834 auction catalogue of the collection of Thomas Weeks’s Mechanical Museum, this mechanical wonder attracted the attention of the public when it was presented at the 1826 Automaton Exhibition in the Gothic Hall, Haymarket.
Automata have always fascinated the public, not only for their magical quality but also as technological feats. The first animal-shaped automaton was invented by Archytas of Taranto (435 BC - 347 BC) and described as a dove capable of flying. Later in the 16th century, Augsburg and Southern Germany produced small metal automated animals such as Hans Schlottheim's crayfish (circa 1645-1525) and Tobias Reichel's spider, both now housed at the Grünes Gewölbe, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.
But it was in the late 18th and early 19th century that automated movements became more sophisticated and integrated in precious casings by Swiss clockmakers. Pierre and Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. Droz and Leschot perfected automated movements. In 1774 they presented three humanoid automatons: The Writer, The Draughtsman and The Musician at La Chaux-de-Fonds. They followed with exhibitions across Europe, Russia and especially China where they eventually exported more than 600 pieces collected by Emperor Qianlong and the Imperial Court, which all had a keen interest in European mechanical watches and automata, many of which are still carefully preserved in the Imperial Palace museum today. To help them manage this international market, Droz and Leschot went into partnership with the Maillardet family in 1783 until 1790, when their collaboration continued as a supplier of movements.
HENRI MAILLARDET ?
The authorship of this caterpillar is generally attributed to Henri Maillardet. However, his partnership with the automaton masters Droz and Leschot and his close link with the specialist trade suggest that although he might have had the idea, the caterpillar was probably made in Switzerland.
Henri Maillardet remains a relatively elusive figure in the history of automata. It is unclear whether he was a businessman, salesman, and showman, or an inventor and craftsman. Like many of his contemporaries, his career fluctuated between periods of success and recurring financial hardship, often due to circumstances beyond his control. Born in Meyriez in 1745, Maillardet reportedly trained in the workshops of the Jaquet-Droz family before working in Berlin and later settling in London in 1783. There, he managed the London branch of the Jaquet-Droz business. Although the firm produced highly skilled clocks, watches, and automata, it collapsed financially in the early 1790s after losses linked to investments in the China trade.
By 1798, Maillardet had reinvented himself as a showman, exhibiting collections of automata at the former premises of Cox’s Museum in Spring Gardens. His displays included mechanical figures advertised as his “Wonderful Automatons,” and included the Mechanical Musical Lady, the Fortune-Teller, the Tumbler, the Writing Boy, a Singing Bird in a Gold Snuff-box, and a menagerie of small animals. In 1826, he presented this menagerie of miniature automata in London's Haymarket Gothic Hall which dazzled the public. The exhibition was captured in a print engraved by Theodore Lane. Cleverly Maillardet named each of his automatons "The Ethiopian Caterpillar", "The Egyptian Lizard" and "The Siberian Mouse". This was one of several exhibitions, as his family also presented these small automata in Europe. Eventually, all these animals and more were sold in London in 1829 probably purchased by Thomas Weeks and eventually sold in 1834 at the auction of his Mechanical Museum in Tichborne Street, London. Maillardet seems to have retained a financial interest in the collection for many years as it toured Britain under various proprietors but he eventually died in poverty in Belgium sometime between 1827 and 1830.
It remains unclear whether all these precious automatons were entirely his own creations or were supplied by other craftsmen, possibly Swiss, as the gold and enamel work appear to have been made in Geneva. Certainly Maillardet’s collaboration with Droz and Leschot would have given him not only the training to build such marvels but also give him access to the right craftsmen to build them for him.
Other known examples of caterpillar:
One in the Iklé collection, Saint-Gall (illustrated in A.Chapuis and E. Droz, Automata, p. 243, fig. 294).
One in the Sandoz collection in the Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle.
One in a private collection exhibited in Mechanical Wonders, The Sandoz Collection, A La Vieille Russie, October 26 to November 26, 2011, p. 110, no. 63.
One sold at Sotheby’s Geneva, 14 November 2010, lot 138.
One sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6 October 2011 lot 3867
One sold at Sotheby's London, 3 July 2013, lot 45.
One sold Sotheby’s, New York 11 June 2015, lot 114
One sold at Antiquorum, Hong Kong, 6 June 2004, lot 464
Comparative literature:
L. Montandon and A. Chapuis, 'Les Maillardet', Musée Neuchatelois, 1917-18.
Ch. Perregaux and F.-L. Perrot, Les Jaquet-Droz et Leschot, Neuchatel, 1916.
A. Chapuis and E. Gélis, Le Monde des Automates, Paris, 1928.
A. Chapuis and E. Jaquet, The History of the Self-Winding Watch, London, 1956.
R. D. Altick, The Shows of London, Cambridge, 1978;
S. and C. Bailly, Oiseaux de Bonheur, Geneva, 2001.
Musée d'horlogerie du Locle, Collections de Montres et Automates, Maurice et Edouard Sandoz, Fasicule III, Le Locle, 1971.
Musée d'horlogerie du Locle, Chefs d'Oeuvre de la Collection Sandoz, 2009.
Caterpillar or silkworm? This incredible automaton is part of a small group of less than ten similar automata created in the early 19th century as part of a larger menagerie of zoomorphic automata intended for the Chinese market. Indeed, the caterpillar or more precisely silkworm is a powerful symbol of transformation, industry, patience and resilience in Chinese culture.
LA CHENILLE D’OR : A MECHANICAL WONDER
Described as ‘an Ethiopian chenille d’or’ in an advertisement of 1811 and as ‘An extraordinary and minute copy of animated nature’ in the 1834 auction catalogue of the collection of Thomas Weeks’s Mechanical Museum, this mechanical wonder attracted the attention of the public when it was presented at the 1826 Automaton Exhibition in the Gothic Hall, Haymarket.
Automata have always fascinated the public, not only for their magical quality but also as technological feats. The first animal-shaped automaton was invented by Archytas of Taranto (435 BC - 347 BC) and described as a dove capable of flying. Later in the 16th century, Augsburg and Southern Germany produced small metal automated animals such as Hans Schlottheim's crayfish (circa 1645-1525) and Tobias Reichel's spider, both now housed at the Grünes Gewölbe, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.
But it was in the late 18th and early 19th century that automated movements became more sophisticated and integrated in precious casings by Swiss clockmakers. Pierre and Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. Droz and Leschot perfected automated movements. In 1774 they presented three humanoid automatons: The Writer, The Draughtsman and The Musician at La Chaux-de-Fonds. They followed with exhibitions across Europe, Russia and especially China where they eventually exported more than 600 pieces collected by Emperor Qianlong and the Imperial Court, which all had a keen interest in European mechanical watches and automata, many of which are still carefully preserved in the Imperial Palace museum today. To help them manage this international market, Droz and Leschot went into partnership with the Maillardet family in 1783 until 1790, when their collaboration continued as a supplier of movements.
HENRI MAILLARDET ?
The authorship of this caterpillar is generally attributed to Henri Maillardet. However, his partnership with the automaton masters Droz and Leschot and his close link with the specialist trade suggest that although he might have had the idea, the caterpillar was probably made in Switzerland.
Henri Maillardet remains a relatively elusive figure in the history of automata. It is unclear whether he was a businessman, salesman, and showman, or an inventor and craftsman. Like many of his contemporaries, his career fluctuated between periods of success and recurring financial hardship, often due to circumstances beyond his control. Born in Meyriez in 1745, Maillardet reportedly trained in the workshops of the Jaquet-Droz family before working in Berlin and later settling in London in 1783. There, he managed the London branch of the Jaquet-Droz business. Although the firm produced highly skilled clocks, watches, and automata, it collapsed financially in the early 1790s after losses linked to investments in the China trade.
By 1798, Maillardet had reinvented himself as a showman, exhibiting collections of automata at the former premises of Cox’s Museum in Spring Gardens. His displays included mechanical figures advertised as his “Wonderful Automatons,” and included the Mechanical Musical Lady, the Fortune-Teller, the Tumbler, the Writing Boy, a Singing Bird in a Gold Snuff-box, and a menagerie of small animals. In 1826, he presented this menagerie of miniature automata in London's Haymarket Gothic Hall which dazzled the public. The exhibition was captured in a print engraved by Theodore Lane. Cleverly Maillardet named each of his automatons "The Ethiopian Caterpillar", "The Egyptian Lizard" and "The Siberian Mouse". This was one of several exhibitions, as his family also presented these small automata in Europe. Eventually, all these animals and more were sold in London in 1829 probably purchased by Thomas Weeks and eventually sold in 1834 at the auction of his Mechanical Museum in Tichborne Street, London. Maillardet seems to have retained a financial interest in the collection for many years as it toured Britain under various proprietors but he eventually died in poverty in Belgium sometime between 1827 and 1830.
It remains unclear whether all these precious automatons were entirely his own creations or were supplied by other craftsmen, possibly Swiss, as the gold and enamel work appear to have been made in Geneva. Certainly Maillardet’s collaboration with Droz and Leschot would have given him not only the training to build such marvels but also give him access to the right craftsmen to build them for him.
Other known examples of caterpillar:
One in the Iklé collection, Saint-Gall (illustrated in A.Chapuis and E. Droz, Automata, p. 243, fig. 294).
One in the Sandoz collection in the Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle.
One in a private collection exhibited in Mechanical Wonders, The Sandoz Collection, A La Vieille Russie, October 26 to November 26, 2011, p. 110, no. 63.
One sold at Sotheby’s Geneva, 14 November 2010, lot 138.
One sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6 October 2011 lot 3867
One sold at Sotheby's London, 3 July 2013, lot 45.
One sold Sotheby’s, New York 11 June 2015, lot 114
One sold at Antiquorum, Hong Kong, 6 June 2004, lot 464
Comparative literature:
L. Montandon and A. Chapuis, 'Les Maillardet', Musée Neuchatelois, 1917-18.
Ch. Perregaux and F.-L. Perrot, Les Jaquet-Droz et Leschot, Neuchatel, 1916.
A. Chapuis and E. Gélis, Le Monde des Automates, Paris, 1928.
A. Chapuis and E. Jaquet, The History of the Self-Winding Watch, London, 1956.
R. D. Altick, The Shows of London, Cambridge, 1978;
S. and C. Bailly, Oiseaux de Bonheur, Geneva, 2001.
Musée d'horlogerie du Locle, Collections de Montres et Automates, Maurice et Edouard Sandoz, Fasicule III, Le Locle, 1971.
Musée d'horlogerie du Locle, Chefs d'Oeuvre de la Collection Sandoz, 2009.