The 1871 London Exhibition report was even more flattering 'The king of toys was, as always, our compatriot M. In the 1855 Paris Exhibition Théodore’s marvels became the star attractions, including a monkey playing a violin.

In 1785 Marie Antoinette was presented with a Monkey Trio Automaton, one monkey playing on a violin, two on violencellos.Įighty years later, in 1862, Alexandre Nicholas Théroude of Paris went further designing a monkey ”nodding his head to the bow movement, moving his jaws, and drawing a bow across the violin” (French patent No. In Louis XV inventory there is a description of a clock “on a tortoiseshell base, possibly Renaissance, with an automat monkey and a 24-hour movement” (Archives nationales O1 3622, as reported by Jean-Dominique Augarde). It appears that the first Monkey automata were created during the Renaissance. King Salomon enjoyed them and, as the First Book of Kings reported (10:22), “Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” In Western art, a monkey became a symbol of playfulness with elements of silliness as exhibited, for instance, by Jean Baptiste Chardin at the Salon du Louvre in 1740 in a form of a painting of a monkey painting a painting. Appreciation for Monkeys goes back to Biblical times where they were admired for their entertaining qualities.

Musical automaton