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In 1741 James de Vaucauson presented before
the Academie des Sciences in Paris (in his own words) ‘An artificial duck made of
gilded copper who drinks, eats, quacks, splashes about in water, and digests his food like
a living duck.’ The duck together with two other automata, the tambourine-player and
the flute players, were exhibited in the Long Room at the Opera House in the Haymarket,
London, during 1752. Alfred Chapuis in his book entitled Automata describes the
history of the duck but the trail evaporates in Dresden between the wars. The duck had
spent some time in Bontems, a Parisian singing bird manufacturer and it seems a German by
the name of Rechsteiner restored the duck and made a copy; both are lost. Some photographs
of the mechanism of the original duck were found in 1921; these and some illustrations and
the maker’s own description survive to the present day. |
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