Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Hong Kong, Apr 28, 2019

LOT 605

ILLEGIBLE MAKER’S MARK; THE ENAMEL ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE WORKSHOP OF LISSIGNOL “BONBONNIÈRE”, PILL-BOX; 18K YELLOW GOLD, ENAMEL AND PEARLS

HKD 390,000 - 460,000

CHF 49,400 - 59,250 / USD 50,000 - 60,000

"The Peaches" 18K yellow gold, enamel and pearl-set, horizontal oval-shaped “Bonbonnière” pill-box with slightly concave body in imitation of a fruit basket, with hinged lid; cover with edge imitating the top of a wicker basket with champlevé light blue and black enamel and pearl-set decor; base and band decorated with guilloché engine-turned motifs and champlevé orange enamel entourages. The lid with a central horizontal oval-shaped panel painted on enamel on gold shows a still life with peaches, grapes, cherries, apples, walnuts, etc., attributable to the workshop of Jean-Abraham Lissignol (1749-1819), Geneva.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good

Brand Illegible Maker's Mark

Model the enamel attributable to the Workshop of Lissignol

Year circa 1810

Material 18K yellow gold, enamel and pearls

Dimensions 16.8 x 66.4 x 44.8 mm.

Signature case

Notes

Even if this painting on enamel is not signed, it is very likely that it is the work of Jean- Abraham Lissignol (1749-1819), Geneva. The extremely fine strokes of the brush ?? made with a few hairs ?? In combination with the pointillist-technique are typical of his work. Similar compositions with fruits and / or flowers can be found on the covers of a series of oval- basket-shaped singing-bird box by Jacob Frisard (1753-1810), Geneva: • A pair of matching mirror image boxes (blue colour). Patek Philippe Museum, Geneva (Inv. S-513). Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz, Pully (Vaud) (Inv. No. 39, formerly No. 99). See: Tellier, Arnaud, & Didier, Mélanie, Le Miroir de la séduction, Prestigieuses paires de montres « chinoises » ?? The Mirror of Seduction, Prestigious pairs of “Chinese” Watches, Geneva, Patek Philippe Museum Editions, 2010, pp. 76-77. • Another box (green colour). Sotheby’s, New York, auction, June 2016, lot 82 (formerly in the La Vielle Russie Collection, Paris); today kept in a Chinese private Collection. See: Chapuis, Alfred, « Une oeuvre inédite de Jacob Frisard », in Revue suisse d’art et archéologie, vol. 11, 1950, pp. 244-245, ill. pl. 86 • Another box. Paris, Le Louvre Museum (Inv. No 0A2343). See: Grandjean, Serge, Catalogue des tabatières, boîtes et étuis des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles du Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981. Another composition of this type can be found on a rectangular-shaped panel fitted in the front base of a small tower-clock (height 22 cm.), with a singing bird hidden inside, which every hour, goes out, sings and moves on itself; on the reverse of this clock, another enamel painting on gold attributed to Lissignol, showing “The Holy Family” (the Virgin, Jesus and St. John the Baptist), after a work (c.1518) of Giulio Romano (c.1499-1546). • Beijing, Palace Collection. See: Treasures of Time, Hong Kong, Science Museum, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series (376 pp.; Exhibition: December 7, 2018 ?? April 10, 2019). Lissignol, Jean-Abraham Geneva, May 1749 ?? Geneva, Plainpalais, June 28, 1819 One of the best enamel painters of the later part of the 18th century, he was the pupil of Jean-Marc Roux and later became his partner. He specialised in decorating enamelled snuff-boxes and watch-cases, working for Jaquet-Droz, Leschot, the Rochat brothers, and John Rich.