Existing comment:
Automaton in the form of Diana and the stag
ca. 1620
Joachim Friess
This automaton was prized, though not unique; other versions survive, all targeted at the wealthiest clientele. A windup mechanism moves the group forward on hidden wheels, vibrating it in a lifelike way. Removing the stag's head reveals two drinking vessels. When the piece stopped, the nearest guest had to lift the creature off its base and empty it. The powerful Habsburg family bolstered their uneasy truce with the infringing Ottoman Empire through sizable gifts of automata like this. |