Caterpillar luxurious jewellery

Caterpillar luxurious jewellery
Created for some wealthy Chinese aristocrat, 200-year-old masterpiece of high jewellery is still in excellent working condition. Sold at auction in 2010, it fetched a price of more than $415,000. It joins five other such caterpillars known to exist, all of which reside in prestigious art collections.
At one time, robots amused wealthy collectors and art enthusiasts. This stunning caterpillar automaton from approximately 1820 is a wonder of both artistry and workmanship. The materials for Ethiopian Caterpillar include rubies, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and turquoise all set in gold. The eleven jointed ring segments combine to form a “body” make crawling realistic. Noteworthy, its body moves up and down by means of a set of gilt-metal knurled wheels.

Maillardet, in partnership with legendary watchmaker Jaquet Droz, organized an exhibition. He showed off his menagerie of miniaturized automata in London, which dazzled the public. Sold at 2010 Sotheby’s auction gold and diamond-studded caterpillar, known also as the ‘Vers de soie’ (silkworm) – destined for the court of Qianlong.

Of six known Maillardet’s caterpillar robots, five are in prestigious collections in Europe, including one in the Patek Philippe museum and another two in the Sandoz collection.

Born 1745, Maillardet was a Swiss mechanic who worked in London producing clocks and other mechanisms, including various automata. Among them – a famous set depicting magicians and others which could write in French and English.
The caterpillar crawls realistically, its body moving up and down by means of a set of gilt-metal knurled wheels.

Caterpillar luxurious jewellery

Again, the ability of crawling caterpillar to turn into a flying butterfly is a magical miracle. Many people are in awe of this metamorphosis, and believe that such miracles without God’s intervention do not happen.