Around the turn of the century , French toy makers Roullet and Decamps created a mechanical automaton of a snake dancer . Only available by special commission , each featured slightly different costumes and stood 90 centimeters tall — that ’ s almost three feet ! Noted as “ one of the most beautiful ” to have come out of the Follies Bergėre , snake dancer Nala Damajanti is thought to have been the inspiration for this limited series of highly prized automata . Ferencz Kozmata , a photographer from Budapest , captured Nala in this publicity photo ( from the archives of Theater Museum Wien
https :// www . theatermuseum . at / ).