Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces
Geneva, May 10, 2025
LOT 602
DIDO AND AENEAS OR ULYSSE AND ANDROMACHE
ATTRIBUTED TO THE PARISIAN WORKSHOP OF THE TOUTIN FAMILY.
ATTRIBUTED TO THE PARISIAN WORKSHOP OF THE TOUTIN FAMILY.
CHF 15,000 - 35,000
HKD 144,000 - 332,000 / USD 18,400 - 42,800 / EUR 16,100 - 37,600TO BE SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE
Sold: CHF 11,875
Very rare and very fine 22K yellow gold and enamel, ''Basine-type pocket watch, open-face, key-winding, round-shaped.
Case-back showing a classic scene from Greco-Roman mythology that can be interpreted as “The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas” or “Ulysses demanding that Andromache hand over Astyanax, the son of Hector”; the painting on enamel on gold attributable to the Parisian workshop of Henri Toutin (1614-aft.1683) and Jean (II) Toutin (1619-aft.1660).
White enamel dial (circa 1740-1750), with radial Roman numerals; yellow gold paste-set “Louis XV” hands.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Brand A.I. Brons
Year circa 1650-1660 (case) and 1740-1750 (movement, dial and hands)
Material 22K gold
Diameter 46 mm.
Caliber (circa 1740-1750), 17’’’, full plate, gilded brass, fusee and chain, verge escapement, monometallic balance (polished steel) and blued steel flat hairspring, pierced and engraved gilded continental “Louis XV” cock, polished steel end-piece, silver regulator disc.
Signature Movement
Notes
Dido and Aeneas or Ulysses and Andromache?
Today it can be extremely difficult and hazardous to identify the iconography used on art objects from past centuries. This watch is an exemplary case in point.
The case of our watch is of the “bassine”-type, dating from the middle of the 17th century, and was most probably made in Blois or Paris. The painting on polychrome enamel is not signed. The later movement is signed by a watchmaker active in The Hague in the Netherlands.