odditiesoflife:Vintage Mechanical Caterpillar, 1820sMade by Swiss watchmaker Henri Maillardet for sa
odditiesoflife:Vintage Mechanical Caterpillar, 1820sMade by Swiss watchmaker Henri Maillardet for sale to aristocratic Chinese buyers, this striking mechanical caterpillar is truly one of a kind. The gold, jewel and pearl-set piece mimics the caterpillar’s crawl with a clockwork powered mechanism.It was titled ‘the Ethiopian caterpillar’ when Maillardet, in partnership with watchmaker Jaquet Droz, organized an exhibition to show off his miniaturized automata in London. -- source link
#xix century