The Met’s ivory mechanical dog is posed in a leap, but its movement is not only represented in carving. A lever beneath the chest operates the mouth, adding an actual moving element to the figure.
The museum record for object 40.2.1 describes the mechanism, visible teeth and red tongue, and changes to the lever’s attachment. It dates the piece to about 1386–1347 BCE.
Separate represented movement from mechanical movement
In your notes, put the leaping pose on one line and the moving jaw on another. The first belongs to the carved image of a body in action; the second concerns an articulated part.
The attachment history matters too. A mechanism visible today need not preserve every connection exactly as first made. Use the institution’s explanation rather than assuming all surviving components belong to one unchanged arrangement.
Do not operate a collection object to test the description. Photographs and curatorial documentation can support this reading exercise.
Finally, avoid treating “mechanical” as proof that the object was simply a child’s toy. Function and setting require historical interpretation. The documented combination of ivory, paint, pose, and moving jaw is already a rich subject without choosing a single undocumented owner or occasion.
Editorial illustration from this site’s image library; not documentary evidence of the example or object discussed.