Bébe Rose (2)

Bébe Rose Musical Automaton,c.1930 by Roullet & Decamps, Paris.

With bisque dolls head, open mouth, blue glass eyes, brown hair wig, composition hands and original pink silk costume trimmed with lace, at the centre of fabric-covered papier-mache rose in basket, the open-spring motor playing a popular air from La Traviata (Parigi, o Cara) and causing  the doll to rise up, throwing kisses with her hands before shyly dropping back into the Rose. . This  Bébe Rose is entirely original with no replaced parts. The leaves of the Rose are a fine pink linen with green leaves. ht. open 10 in., with ornate brass key. Some fading, with signs of wear and handling to the foliage commensurate with age and provenance, see below.

The Bébe Rose comes with an interesting label found inside the automaton when restoring the mechanism.  It is a return label from the famous Parisian department store Au Louvre to Monsieur Decamps. We purchased the automaton in 2022 from the estate of Madame Cosette Bellancourt, the last relative of the famous Automata maker family. It was found in the cellar of  the Roullet & Decamps workshops. Probably they supplied a new Bébe Rose to replace this one for their prestigious customer rather than repair it, and then consigned this poor Bébe to the cellar.

Now fully restored in our workshop and guaranteed for two years (UK only).

Price: £2,950 including delivery UK/USA

VIDEO TO COME!