Samurai

Size: 20 x 6 x 31 cm
Crank mechanism

The Japanese Samurai were the knights of the Far East. Like their counterparts in Europe they lived off the earnings of their peasants' labour. Symbols of their status consisted of two swords, a long one and a short one. In contrast to the heavy armour plates worn by the European knights, the samurai wore armour made up of small varnished tiles of steel tied together. This made the armour worn by the samurai light and elastic.

The rotation of the handle is converted by a crank slider into the movement of horse and samurai. The horse rears and the samurai raises his sword. The forelegs of the horse and the samurai's arm are operated by threads and move in unison when the crank is turned.