This nine-inch-diameter medallion from the 1800s honors the 18th-century French inventor, Jacques de Vaucanson, as indicated by his name that is etched along the edges of the cast iron black roundel. Vaucanson is depicted in profile, with a styled wig with rolled curls and a tied queue at the back, indicative of his gentlemanly status. A duck on a pedestal can be seen in front of the face, which is a nod to one of Vaucanson’s most notorious inventions, an automaton of a duck digesting food, created in the mid-1700s. Behind Vauconson’s head is another automaton, that of a flute player, which was his first life-sized automaton that was capable of playing 12 melodies.

Born Jacques Vaucanson (the nobiliary particle “de” was bestowed upon him by the Académie des Sciences) in Grenoble, France, in 1709. Vaucanson’s most important invention was the first all-metal lathe, which was paramount to the Industrial Revolution, as his lathe was the first machine tool to beget other machine tools. In addition to the lathe and his automatons, Vaucanson is known for designing an automatic loom that wove using punch cards, a technology that was used 200 years later for data entry in initial generations of computers.

CONDITION: Very good antique condition. Slight imperfections from the casting process, presenting as fleabites and uneven surfaces. A small section is missing from above the head, but this was from a broken mold and is not considered a loss.