Robert Race, b. 1943, Chesil String, a hand-wound automaton, wood, driftwood, sea string, metal, 72cm high, 70cm wide, 12cm deep

Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: this pyramid of figures brandishing torches or brooms looks the sort of fantasy that you might imagine rising from the waves as you sail an ancient sea, but the figures are hardly from the Classical world. They come from a rougher Northern tradition. At the top is a female figure (not Neptune as you might expect) with long string hair and two torches, then two male figures with one torch each and fierce eyebrows and moustaches, then two more females, two males with naturally shaped weapons and two mermaids. The movements are created by strings attached to eccentrically mounted block cams at the base which pull on the strings at different times. All nine figures wave their arms, and the mermaids fish-like bodies undulate as their separate sections rise and fall. On the base two sea birds rotate as if they are floating on whirlpools. The whole scene is typical of Races imaginative use of materials picked up from Chesil Bank, and the sea nymphs and their companions are enjoying themselves.

Provenance: Purchased, Museum of Naïve Art, Bath, Somerset, November 1991.

Exhibited: Museum of Automata, York, October-November 1991.

Note: Robert Race, b.1943, exhibits his moving toys, automata, and kinetic sculpture in Britain and internationally.He is a member and past Chairman of the British Toymakers Guild. His work often incorporates a wide range of natural, re-used, and recycled material to make objects which move in simple but interesting ways.

Roseberys do not guarantee the working order of any automata or toy.