Carl Kauba (1865-1922) - Metamorphic Erotic Bronze Open Sesame

A concealed erotic bronze figure entitled "Open Sesame" depicts a young woman wearing a cloak, her articulated arms opening via a clockwork mechanism to reveal a gilt bronze nude figure by Carl Kauba. The figure rests on a square base, signed C. Kauba, circa 1900. The name of this work is quite amusing, a magic formula, an infallible way to gain access to something, to have all doors opened. It appears in the tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, in Antoine Galland's version of the collection One Thousand and One Nights.