Video of automaton caterpillar

Maria Edgeworth’s “The Bracelet” from Rosamond: A Continuation of Early Lessons (1821) describes three realistic, jeweled automata offered for purchase by a traveling salesman—A caterpillar, a mouse, and a watch bracelet with a timer—which the traveler attributes to Jean-François Bautte. With several mechanical caterpillars created and displayed during this period, it is difficult to say which one Maria Edgeworth may have seen. She traveled to Geneva in 1820, and the Jean-François Bautte mentioned in her story was, indeed, a Genevan craftsman who created and sold watches, jewelry, and small novelty pieces with clockwork mechanisms, partnering with Jacques-Dauphin Moulinie and Jean-Gabriel Moynier. Today, automata known as “The Silkworm” or “The Ethiopian Caterpillar” as well as the “Mechanical Mouse” or “Siberian Mouse” are attributed to Henri Maillardet, who displayed these pieces in his “Automatically Theatre” in Spring Gardens beginning around 1800. In London, James Cox’s nearby museum also displayed jeweled automata, called “toys,” which he created or purchased in collaboration with John Merlin, a friend of Richard Edgeworth. After the death of Cox and Merlin in 1800, Thomas Weeks acquired much of Cox’s collection and opened a similar museum. If Maria had seen these pieces at one of the several London shows of mechanical marvels, and not in Genevan, then wouldn't she simply attribute them to Maillardet? After all, she correctly describes other automata created by Marilladet in her novel Belinda (1801). Why mention M. Bautte unless she had some reason to make that connection? One possibility is that the caterpillar was created by them both. Although Maillardet created his own automata, he also assembled others using parts imported from Geneva by his partner, Jaquet-Droz, himself a skilled automaton maker. The Geneva connection raises the possibility that Jacquet-Droz acquired the jeweled pieces for the caterpillar and mouse from Bautte, who was known for small, jeweled luxury pieces, and sent them to Maillardet, who assembled them (if needed) and displayed them in his London show. If Bautte also kept some of these items in Geneva, then Maria Edgeworth may have seen the caterpillar and mouse in both locations.