Imagine you are sitting at a banquet table. Suddenly, this automaton with its extraordinary hunting party rushes towards you – the larger hound moving its head, the smaller one jumping up and down. The chaste huntress Diana and the centaur, a mythological creature – half-horse, half-man – roll their eyes. Finally, the automaton stops in front of you, and the centaur shoots an arrow...which hits you. Now you have to propose a toast. What would you say!
Well, to be honest, we don‘t know exactly what the guest had to do when the centaur shot at him. Perhaps he just had to empty his glass in one go. But the Diana automaton certainly provided entertainment at the dinner table!
There’s a clock built into the front. Its striking mechanism is incorporated into the high plinth made of ebony. That’s also where the cogs are located which enable the automaton to move across the table. Unfortunately, the mechanism is broken. Despite many attempts at repair, all it is able to do is turn the larger dog’s head and make the small gilded dog jump a bit.
This automaton represents a highpoint in entertainment technology around 1600. It is also an unusual work of art. It was made in Augsburg, a town in southern Germany which had become the production centre of luxury goods for the whole of Central Europe. Elector Christian the Second purchased it in Prague in 1610. He was visiting the emperor Rudolph the Second at the time. The emperor was an almost fanatical collector, and most German rulers were no match for him.
- Location & Dating
- Augsburg, around 1606 - 1610
- Material & Technique
- Silver, partially gilded, enamel, brass, steel, six rubies, two emeralds, ebony, oak wood, pinewood
- Dimenions
- H 49,6 cm, B oben 36,0 cm, B Sockel 32,8 cm, T 21,3 cm
- Museum
- Grünes Gewölbe
- Inventory number
- IV 150