Table clock with pair of automaton monkeys

This is an original piece that, when the key is turned, produces a scene in which a monkey dentist treats his patient, moving to the rhythm of the musical notes. According to the mark on the clock’s movement, it was made by Vicenti and won the silver medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. / This piece belongs to the golden age of automaton, a period thus known due to the boom in this industry in much of Europe between 1830 and 1914. Driven by the new pace imposed by the Industrial Revolution, the demand for ‘the articles from Paris’ (as these mechanical toys were called at the different Universal Exhibitions in which they were presented) increased notably after 1850. There were the more refined pieces, with exquisite movements and for decorative purposes, corresponding in this way to the tastes of aristocrats and nobles fascinated by the novelty of having one of these rare contraptions.