A Very Fine, Early And Large Colour-Lithograph Monkey Chamber Orchestra Musical Automaton Picture, French, circa 1860, The early key-wind cylinder movement Ser. No. 6593, Gamme No. 774, playing four melodically brilliant airs, with single-spring motor and single-section comb on plain brass bedplate, 'Pan Greek' blue ink tunesheet, with the separate automaton motor with simple plates and dual linear-direction pulleys for the nine individual movements to double bass, panpiper, violist, drummer, cymbal percussionist and lead violinist conductor, the lithographed figures within a stone-walled chamber dressed with drapes and painting, an attentive dog and loose score on titled floor, picture bears signature Riviere, behind glass within the decorative carved and ebonised-finished gesso box frame, automatic change/repeat to bedplate and start/stop actuations to side - overall 34" 87cm wide, the height 26", 67cm, the cylinder 8", 20cm

Footnote: This very early example shows the much earlier pre-commercial design of larger wooden dowels for each of the actions from the back, coupled with separate wire and card weight balances as used for the returns. Unusually, the tension points with pulleys are complete and original. These superb box framed-format automatons from the early-late 19th century are usually the smaller sized examples featuring cats and dogs. Monkeys and people are far rarer from the few surviving examples left. The effect when running is astonishing, especially with the more-refined examples such as this, where the movement would invariably be correctly synchronised to the music.