Geneva, May 15, 2023
LOT 301
MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET AUTOMATON AND MUSICAL SNUFF BOX
CHF 40,000 - 80,000
EUR 40,700 - 82,000 / USD 45,100 - 91,000 / HKD 354,000 - 710,000
Sold: CHF 52,500
Very fine and unusual 18K gold and enamel pear-set snuff box with eglomise glass panels, built-in centre seconds watch and musical automaton scene.
Rectangular shapped case with English prestige marks, eglomise (under painted on glass) panels painted with flowers over a black ground, the lid with split-pearl set borders and bezel.
Enamel dial plate finely painted with a country landscape and applied on each side of the dial with a three-coloured gold sitting lady on the right, playing the mandolin, a standing boy on the left beating time in unison.
Rectangular shapped case with English prestige marks, eglomise (under painted on glass) panels painted with flowers over a black ground, the lid with split-pearl set borders and bezel.
Enamel dial plate finely painted with a country landscape and applied on each side of the dial with a three-coloured gold sitting lady on the right, playing the mandolin, a standing boy on the left beating time in unison.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3-33 |
Good Restored |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Brand Attributable to Piguet et Meylan, Switzerland
Year Circa 1820
Material 18K yellow gold
Caliber Brass rectangular two train movement, the going train with going barrel, cylinder escapement, plain brass threearm balance, flat balance spring with regulator. Musical train with pin-disc and radial comb of 22 steel teeth.
Dimensions 87 x 47 mm.
Notes
Hinged polished gold back lid engraved: "Thomson".
Philippe Samuel Meylan Born February 15, 1772, in Bas-du-Chenit, died in 1845. At 20 years old he came to Geneva where he worked for the Godemar Frères in quality of Master worker. Afterwards he went back to Brassus where he founded a little factory in 1811. He then returned to Geneva where he definitively settled. He met another watchmaker from his own village, Isaac Piguet, with whom he entered into partnership, founding the Piguet & Meylan firm, which would last from 1811 to 1828. It specialised in minute cadratures, musical watches, skeleton or automaton watches, mechanical animals and figures, he is also credited with the invention of the bagnolet caliber. Isaac Daniel Piguet. Born in 1775 in Le Chenit in the Vallée de Joux, Isaac Daniel Piguet was the son of Pierre Moïse Piguet and Elisabeth Nicole. He married Jeanne Françoise Capt around 1795, and around 1800 settled in Geneva with his family. Isaac Daniel Piguet went into business with Henry Daniel Capt, his brother-in-law, on February 10, 1802. The association between Piguet & Meylan came to an end in 1828. Piguet and his son David Auguste established a new company, Piguet père & fils, located no 69 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Isaac Daniel Piguet died in Geneva, on January 20, 1841, at the age of 66. he sur plateau musical arrangement, as found in this box, is attributed to Philippe Meylan. The blades are laid out at angles of equal intervals, and they move progressively inward toward the center of the disc. The teeth playing the higher notes, since they are stiffer, are acted upon by the pin near the center of the disc, the lower notes are played by the more easily flexed blades set nearer the periphery of the disc. The number of the blades usually varies between 16 and 27 but usually several notes are duplicated. The present box features Meylan's invention as well as typical Piguet et Meylan automaton arrangement, with the center-seconds cylinder watch movement set directly on the same plate as the musical one. In addition, the enamel on the dial plate has most of the characteristics found on other Piguet et Meylan dial plates.
Philippe Samuel Meylan Born February 15, 1772, in Bas-du-Chenit, died in 1845. At 20 years old he came to Geneva where he worked for the Godemar Frères in quality of Master worker. Afterwards he went back to Brassus where he founded a little factory in 1811. He then returned to Geneva where he definitively settled. He met another watchmaker from his own village, Isaac Piguet, with whom he entered into partnership, founding the Piguet & Meylan firm, which would last from 1811 to 1828. It specialised in minute cadratures, musical watches, skeleton or automaton watches, mechanical animals and figures, he is also credited with the invention of the bagnolet caliber. Isaac Daniel Piguet. Born in 1775 in Le Chenit in the Vallée de Joux, Isaac Daniel Piguet was the son of Pierre Moïse Piguet and Elisabeth Nicole. He married Jeanne Françoise Capt around 1795, and around 1800 settled in Geneva with his family. Isaac Daniel Piguet went into business with Henry Daniel Capt, his brother-in-law, on February 10, 1802. The association between Piguet & Meylan came to an end in 1828. Piguet and his son David Auguste established a new company, Piguet père & fils, located no 69 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Isaac Daniel Piguet died in Geneva, on January 20, 1841, at the age of 66. he sur plateau musical arrangement, as found in this box, is attributed to Philippe Meylan. The blades are laid out at angles of equal intervals, and they move progressively inward toward the center of the disc. The teeth playing the higher notes, since they are stiffer, are acted upon by the pin near the center of the disc, the lower notes are played by the more easily flexed blades set nearer the periphery of the disc. The number of the blades usually varies between 16 and 27 but usually several notes are duplicated. The present box features Meylan's invention as well as typical Piguet et Meylan automaton arrangement, with the center-seconds cylinder watch movement set directly on the same plate as the musical one. In addition, the enamel on the dial plate has most of the characteristics found on other Piguet et Meylan dial plates.