German D.R.P. automaton, first quarter of the 20th century.

German automaton D.R.P., first quarter of the 20th century.
"Character advertising Fricot products from Francisco Bertriu's perfumery".
Paper mache face. Wooden feet and hands.
Original costumes.
With mechanical movement by means of which the protagonist takes out the posters from inside the drawer.
It presents faults in a finger. Marks of use and wear.
Measurements: 90 x 35 x 35 cm (figure); 110 x 62 x 49 cm (total).

Although made in Germany, this automaton is intended for the Spanish public because the character advertises Fricot products sold in Francisco Bertriu's perfumery in Barcelona. The posters, in fact, read in Catalan. The protagonist, a nice young man elegantly dressed in a suit, lace shirt and Cordovan hat, directs his hand to the posters inside the drawer to take them out and show them to the viewer.

The automaton dolls are mechanical figures that imitate the life of the time, sometimes in a parody tone. They have complex movements that allow them to do different things once they are wound up, such as dance, play musical instruments or even smoke. These were not toys intended for children, but were collector's items treasured by an adult audience. Their movement was achieved thanks to a winding mechanism that moved the heads, hands and legs hidden between the dresses, and connected to a musical device of one or several cylinders. In contrast to the sophistication of the faces and hands of the automatons (made by companies specialized in biscuit material, being Jumeau the one that made the highest quality heads, although other French and German brands, such as Simon & Halbig, also worked for the manufacturers of automatons), the bodies hidden by the dresses were crude. As a curiosity it is worth mentioning that the dresses were generally made by relatives of the owners of the companies themselves (as in the case of Marie Thérèse Burger, wife of Gustave Vichy, who in many cases was in charge of making the costumes herself).