A jeweled hummingbird emerges from a flower, beats its wings, and disappears among the petals. A miniature poet puts pen to paper. A tortoise ambles across a table with a singing passenger beneath its shell. For centuries, ingenious watchmakers and craftsmen have devoted themselves to making inanimate objects behave as though they have lives of their own—and collectors have paid extraordinary sums to watch something do very little, very beautifully. These are automata: mechanical creations whose lifelike movements depend on intricate arrangements of gears, cams, springs, and other components. Their finest examples bring together the precision of watchmaking, the artistry of sculpture, and the enduring pleasure of a private performance on demand. In 2015, an antique, jeweled singing-bird scent flask by Jaquet-Droz, Leschot, and Frisard created over 230 years ago fetched $2.53 million at Sotheby’s. At such prices, one would hope the bird takes requests. Celebrated vocalist and TV personality..
