Geneva, May 12, 2024
LOT 282
JAMES COX, AFFAIRS OF THE HEART WATCH WITH TWO CONCEALED EROTIC SCENES AND VISIBLE BALANCE, MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET, GILT BRASS
CHF 30,000 - 50,000
HKD 260,000 - 434,000 / USD 33,200 - 56,000 / EUR 30,600 - 51,000
Sold: CHF 37,500
An extremely fine and rare gilt metal and enamel, manual wind heart-shaped case, hinged back with painted on enamel riverside landscape, the inside of the back with a scene in which a gentleman considers his options in the preliminaries to the art of love while a servant secretly looks on, on the inside dome, another painting of the couple as the scene continues, the counter-enamel with a bouquet of forget-me-nots. White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals and outer minute track on the top left, on the right slow/fast regulator dial, at the bottom aperture for the balance oscillating against a polished plate, all set into a blue enameled mask painted with gold scrolls. Blued-steel hands.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
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Case: 3-32 |
Good Slightly restored |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-71-01 |
Good ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Hairlines HANDS Original |
Brand James Cox
Year Circa 1780
Movement No. 402
Length 52
Caliber Heart-shaped, 33 x 34 mm, hinged, gilt brass full plate, cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain polished steel three-arm balance, flat balance spring, three-arm cock.
Width 42
Signature Movement
Notes
Literature : The Sandberg Collection, p. 238-239.
Illustrated and described in "Les Heures de l'Amour" by Roland Carrera, Editions Scriptar/Antiquorum, Geneva, 1993, p. 37.
James Cox (circa 1723 - 1800) Born in London around 1723, he was the son of Henry Cox, a tailor. He became Free in 1745, at which time he was described as a goldsmith. Cox also called himself a "jeweller". In December 1745, Cox married Elizabeth Liron. In June of that same year he had set up shop in Racquet Court, where he remained until 1756. In 1756 Cox entered into a partnership with Edward Grace and moved to larger premises in Shoe Lane. However, Cox & Grace declared bankruptcy in November 1758. In July 1763, his bankruptcy proceedings terminated with his discharge. It was during the 1760s and early 1770s that Cox became famous for a very specific genre: elaborate and luxurious musical and automaton clocks and watches, made of precious metals and studded with precious stones, destined particularly for the Ottoman, Indian and Chinese empires, and especially for the court of the Chinese Emperor himself. The first record of such activity on Cox's part is a "notice of two curious Clocks" which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine of December 1766. During this period, and until 1773, Cox's chief "mechanic" was a brillant Belgian, John Joseph Merlin (1735-1803). Merlin is generally considered to have been Cox's "right-hand man", and any pieces signed by Cox which can be securely dated to before 1773, may have been designed or even made by Merlin. Later, many clock, watch, and singing bird movements were made for Cox by the Jaquet Droz firm. Cox earned great renown through the Museum he maintained in London's Spring Gardens from 1772 to 1775. In 1769, Cox purchased the Chelsea Porcelain Works, intending perhaps to further diversify his trade it has been suggested that he planned to collaborate with Matthew Boulton in the making of ormulu-mounted porcelain vases. However, for reasons that remain unknown but may have to do with Cox' s persistently precarious financial situation, the porcelain works were sold again only five months later. Both profits and demand continued to decline, and Cox soon found himself in difficult financial straits, with insufficent cash at hand, and a large stock in which he had invested hugely. To remedy this situation, Cox held two sales of items from his stock at Christie's, in July and December 1772. In addition, early that same year he had opened his mechanical museum in the Great Room at Spring Gardens.