Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces...
Hong Kong, Dec 05, 2021
LOT 199
HENRICUS JONES
“Bassine”-type single-hand pocket watch à couvercle (with cover) with early hairspring; gilded metal and enamel
“Bassine”-type single-hand pocket watch à couvercle (with cover) with early hairspring; gilded metal and enamel
HKD 130,000 - 220,000
EUR 14,600 - 24,700 / CHF 15,400 - 26,000 / USD 16,700 - 28,300
Sold: HKD 150,000
Gilded metal and enamel, hunting-case, key-winding, round-shaped, “Bassine”-type, pocket watch à couvercle (with cover).
Two-piece case, “bassine’’-shaped, the cover and the case-back entirely polychrome painted on enamel with foliage and flowers on a “bleu mourant” background; Inside two scenes that can be inspired by engravings of Gabriel Perelle (1603-1677).
Silver champlevé dial (20th century reconstruction), with radial Roman numerals, the inner part engraved with foliage and flowers; blued steel single hand.
Movement (20th century reconstruction), 19’’’, full plate, gilded brass, “Balustre” pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, monometallic balance with three arms (polished steel) and blued steel flat hairspring, pierced and engraved silver “Louis XIII” continental cock, silver regulator disc.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3-71-75 |
Good ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Hairlines ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Slightly restored soft enamel |
Movement: 27-3 |
Custom-made Good |
Dial: 27-01 |
Custom-made HANDS Original |
Brand Henricus Jones, London
Model The case may have been made in Augsburg
Year Circa 1675-1680
Diameter 50.7 mm
Caliber 19’’’, fusee and chain, verge escapement
Signature Movement
Notes
Bleu mourant
“On appelle, Bleu mourant, un bleu fort pasle, & fort deschargé.” (We call, Bleu mourant (dying blue), a very pale blue, & very discharged), in Dictionnaire de L’Académie française, 1st edition, Paris, 1694.
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Jones, Henry (or Henricus) (1642-1695)
Henry Jones was one of the most eminent early English watchmakers.
Originally apprenticed to Benjamin Hill, he was apprenticed to Edward East (1654). He became a Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1663, was an Assistant in 1676 and was appointed Master in 1691. During his thirty years working life, he has taken on fourteen apprentices.
He established his business in the Inner Temple Lane and continued in the tradition of East making the finest clocks and watches contained in superbly crafted cases.
In October 1692 he matched Edward Easts contribution of £100 to the Clockmakers Charity for "5 poor widows having Annually the Benefitt thereof Forever".
It is an interesting fact that one of the clocks he made for King Charles cost £ 150, a vast sum of money at the time. Jones died in 1695.
Examples of Jones’s work are included in the collections of The British Museum, The Guildhall Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (U.S.A.), amongst many others.