Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces
Hong Kong, Oct 27, 2019
LOT 57
FRANÇOIS JOLLY DECORATIVE POCKET WATCH, DUMB QUARTER-REPEATER “À TOC” AND “À TACT”, “EN PÂTE”TECHNIQUE ENAMEL “FLEURS À RELIEF” DÉCOR; 20K YELLOW GOLD AND ENAMEL
HKD 50,000 - 60,000
CHF 6,250 - 7,500 / USD 6,400 - 7,650
Sold: HKD 68,750
20K yellow gold and enamel, open-face, key-winding, round-shaped, “Louis XV” pocket watch, with white enamel dial and dumb quarterrepeater “à toc” and “à tact”. Case-back and bezel polychrome enamelled with “fleurs à relief” décor in “en pâte”-technique on green “flinqué” enamel (translucent enamel over “guilloché” engine-turning) background, in the manner of Louis François Aubert (1721-1755), Paris.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Brand François Jolly
Year Circa 1750
Movement No. 386
Calibre 18’’’, verge escapement
Case No. 186
Diameter 47.3 mm
Signature Dial, Case and Movement
Notes
•Formerly Collection Emile Bloch-Pimentel (1873-1961), Paris; French engineer (Ecole Polytechnique) and inventor.
•Maître Ader, Etienne, Paris, Hôtel Drouot (expert: Fromanger, H.-D.), auction, May 5, 1961, “Collection Bloch-Pimentel”, lot 71 (ill. pl. VI).
Jolly, François-Antoine, Paris
Parisian watchmaker received as Master in 1747, active place Dauphine. Seems to have died prematurely in 1752. Bibliography • Tardy, Henri-Gustave Lengellé dit, Dictionnaire des Horlogers français, Paris, Editions Tardy, 1971-1972, p. 333 (black & white ill.). Enamel “en pâte”-technique The case of this watch is decorated with enamelled “fleurs à relief”, much in favour for snuffboxes between 1748 and 1755. These dates coincide with the working lifetime of Louis-François Aubert (1721- 1755) to whom this work is generally attributed. Similar watch-cases are known and it is interesting to point out that among the items found unfinished in his workshop after his death, there were several snuffboxes and a watch-case in this manner. The “en pâte”-technique was already used in watch-case making, first in Blois or Paris, circa 1640-1650, then in Geneva, circa 1650-1670, by the Workshop of the Huaud family – Pierre (I) Huaud (1612-1680), Pierre (II) Huaud (1647-1698) and Jean-Pierre Huaud (1655-1723) – and later in Augsburg, circa 1660-1670. Bibliography
• Cocks, Anna Somers, Truman, Charles, & de Pury, Simon, Renaissance Jewels, Gold Boxes and Objects de Vertu, from the Thysenn-Bornemisza Collection, New York, The Vendome Press, London, Sotheby Publications, 1984 (380 pp.). Similar watches
• François Jolly, No. 272, circa 1745-1750; case also with mossagate panels, with its chatelaine and breloques decorated en suite. Antiquorum, Geneva, auction, April 11, 1992, lot 321, sold for the amount of CHF 50 600.-
• Etienne (II) Lenoir (1699-1778), No. 2 379, Paris, circa 1750-1752; case by François Gervais (died in 1759), No. 90. Patek Philippe Museum, Geneva (Inv. S-635).