Existing comment:
Automaton in the form of a spider
before 1604
Tobias Reichel
Automata that imitated living creatures through miniaturized clockwork movements -- the ultimate expression of technological expertise -- were among the most popular Kunstkammer collectibles. An uncommonly minuscule movement propels the spider created by Tobias Reichel, clockmaker to the Dresden court. The crayfish automaton, which crawls forward, was one of a pair by Hans Schlottheim, a celebrated maker of automata in his era (the other crayfish, destroyed in 1945, crawled backward). Both animals here were originally painted in naturalistic colors. |