The Magical Musical Dolls

One of Marie Antoinettes favorite toys was ‘The musician’ a young girl seated at a clavichord, which appeared to play a tune, and she moved to the music.

Medieval and the pre-medieval history of Europe reveal that moving images of one sort or another were constantly billed as novel attractions at fairs, and most of the average population saw such things as mysterious and with suspicion. The Church condemned them as instruments of the devil, and not until the late 17th century did the first mechanical dolls appeared as children's playthings.
But these toys were the province of royal children only. It was an expensive luxury to be sent as a prestige gift to a great noble or distant prince.