The automaton, fashioned as a monkey figure, is positioned in front of a harp on high-backed turned wooden armchair upholstered in embossed burgundy velvet. When the mechanism is activated, one of two melodies plays: the monkey alternately plucks the strings with both hands, lifting and moving them along the strings; in time with the music, its head turns from side to side and moves up and down, its eyelids raise and lower, and its mouth opens, baring its teeth to mimic singing.

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