


Lot 28
A Napoleonic prisoner of war Spinning Jenny bone automata 5x2.3x7ins.(13x5.5x18cm)
8 October 2014, 14:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £15,000 inc. premium
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A Napoleonic prisoner of war Spinning Jenny bone automata
on two straw work platforms, mounted onto turned bone pillars with carved feet and turned finials. The lower level with pierced frame, central wheel and two supporting cog wheels, driving figures on the upper level. A pair of polychrome supporting male figures and dogs to the front and a pair of ladies to the rear. The upper level, with carved and pierced spinning wheel, a central, seated lady with distaff alongside a seated male fiddler, with a pair dancing to one side and a lady holding a skein on the other. A manuscript inked label beneath inscribed This toy came from Aberford 1916 it was made by French prisoners of war from bones. 5x2.3x7ins.(13x5.5x18cm)
Footnotes
Provenance: by repute from Elston Hall, Nottinghamshire, home of Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin's grandfather and thence by descent.