Rising Card Magician Automaton. Los Angeles: Alan Wakeling, ca. 2002. Handsome magician automaton stands behind a fanciful table holding a vase with flowers and a houlette on a separate table containing a pack of miniature cards. As the crank is turned in the base, the magician looks toward the cards, raises one hand, and a card rises from the houlette, matching a card selected by a member of the audience. The card descends into the houlette, and then the automaton turns his view to the flowers, which bloom from tiny buds into full flowers. Operated with a hand-crank mechanism, the action accompanied by the music of Pachabel from a concealed music box. Components crafted by Alan Wakeling and his wife Helen; Alan constructed the mechanism and working parts, Helen sculpted the face. Height 33?, base 17 x 14 x 7?. One of Wakeling?s automatons was featured, to great acclaim, in the Off-Broadway show, Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants. Wakeling designed many of the world?s best known stage illusions, and was a renowned magician in his own right.