Several excellent quality Genevan watches, dating from the very end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th century, with gold case, enamel painting, some set with half pearls and / or diamonds, signed Clary are known.

Nothing is known about this watchmaker, who was most probably active in Geneva at the time, where several people bearing the surname Clary or Claris are listed.

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In the past, the subject represented on this watch has been given as Apollo pursuing a nymph or Demeter and Core or Demeter and Persephone or Vertumnus and Pomona. It is in fact, Peace Bringing Back Abundance, titled also The Allegory of Fertility, a painting by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842), executed in 1780. (now in the Louvre Museum in Paris).

The Geneva enamel painter probably interpreted it from a contemporary engraving.

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Richter, Jean-Louis (1766-1841)

Learned his art in Geneva under David-Etienne Roux and Philippe-Samuel-Théodore Roux, becoming a most renowned enamel painter. His speciality was the painting of landscapes and particularly lake-side scenes and marine-scapes, often representing ships in a harbour or battles with fighting Men-of-War, but, on occasion, also portraits and hunting scenes. He did not often sign his work, but it is clearly recognised as being in his hand from the style and quality of the painting. He applied his art principally to watch cases and snuff-boxes and these were largely destined for the Chinese, Turkish, British and Italian markets. In 1828, he was in partnership with Aimé-Julien Troll (1781-1852) and one can find work signed “Richter et Troll”. Richter, like other great enamel painters of the time, often found inspiration for his work from paintings or engravings by the artists then in fashion particularly Claude Vernet or the romanticised English and Irish rural life.