Puppets and Automata
For an interesting text consult:
Wood, G., Living Dolls, a magical history of
the quest for mechanical life, Faber & Faber, 2002
|
|
"This devil was made by taking a sixteenth-century torso -- possibly a Christ at the Column -- and applying a clockwork mechanism to turn the head and the eyes, and to stick out the tongue and make an inarticulate sound. A seventeenth-century description mentions horns and a collar that are now lost." (Castello Sforzesco, Milan, Italy) |
 |
 |
Le Mano che Scrive, Friedrich von Knaus (1764) It writes in this image, "HUIC DOMUI DEUS", For this house, God limits neither time nor space." |
| Of
course even modern technology is used regularly to make animate creations
such as Robovie who wanders the corridors of the ATR laboratory
in Kyoto, asking people to give it a hug.
|
 |
 |
 |
Puppets in the Inuyama puppet museum (Gifu prefecture, Japan). Such puppets appear on the Inuyama Matsuri (festival) floats and may be animated mechanically or by hand. |
A
puppet on a Takayama Matsuri float (Gifu prefecture, Japan). This festival
has been running twice annually since the 16th century. There are movies
of these fantastic hand-operated puppets in action online.
|
|
