Photographs of the "masterpiece" of Paul Magès's father and its engraved plaque

In this document

These two colour photographs show the same object from two angles: a mechanical model of a steam engine type, mounted on a black-painted wooden base, itself placed on a solid wood piece of furniture p. 1-2.

An engraved gold plaque is attached to the front of the base. It bears the inscription "Chef d'Œuvre de Paul MAGÈS" (Masterpiece of Paul MAGÈS), followed by partially legible life dates — "[uncertain: 1880-1937]" on the first shot p. 1 and an illegible start of an inscription "(18..." on the second p. 2. As these dates remain uncertain, they cannot be considered reliable.

The model

The technical description reveals several characteristic elements of a steam engine scale model:

• a large flywheel with curved spokes p. 1-2;
• a second, smaller wheel/crank p. 1-2;
• a centrifugal ball governor (known as a "Watt governor"), mounted vertically in the centre p. 1-2;
• a horizontal cylinder circled with light wood bands, brass pipes, taps and fittings p. 2;
• a mechanical block with a cover and crank, as well as connecting rods linking the elements p. 1;
• an open-ended spanner placed on the base p. 2.

The setting is identical in both shots: beige wall, gold-framed mirror in the background reflecting an orange curtain and a window p. 1-2.

Context

The term "chef-d'œuvre" (masterpiece) refers, in the tradition of French compagnonnage (guilds) and industrial apprenticeship, to the piece created by an artisan or worker to demonstrate their technical mastery, often during their change of status (apprentice to journeyman, or to a higher grade). Steam engine models, with Watt governors and flywheels, were a classic exercise of this type at the turn of the 19th-20th century, a period when steam remained a major technical reference in the training of mechanics.

The collection establishes that Paul Magès, born in 1908, was destined for the Arts et Métiers Academy in Marseille before leaving high school at 17 to join Citroën in August 1925 (biographical notice). This proximity to the Arts et Métiers culture, shared by the father, sheds light on the family context in which such a mechanic's "masterpiece" could have been preserved and passed down.

However, nothing in the document allows for confirmation, beyond this general hypothesis, of the exact identity of the author of this object or the precise context of its creation.

Archivist's perspective

The plaque explicitly indicates that it is the "masterpiece" attributed to Paul Magès's father — without his first name being specified in the available transcripts. The engraved dates, barely legible, seem to correspond to a year of birth and death p. 1, but their uncertainty precludes any assertion.

This object occupies a special place in the collection: it does not directly document the work of the engineer Paul Magès, inventor of the hydropneumatic suspension developed at Citroën between the first plans of 1944 and the presentation of the DS in 1955, but probably testifies to a family transmission of the taste for mechanics, embodied by this piece of technical virtuosity kept as a souvenir.

It would be useful to compare this archive with other biographical or family pieces in the Magès collection — such as documents relating to his son Pierre Magès or the Paul Magès Association — in order to clarify the precise identity of the author of the masterpiece and the lineage evoked by the plaque.