Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces...

Hong Kong, Dec 05, 2021

LOT 178

JOSEPH MARTINEAU SENIOR
Triple case pocket watch, repoussé décor; gilded metal, yellow gold and horn

HKD 26,000 - 43,000

EUR 3,000 - 4,900 / CHF 3,100 - 5,100 / USD 3,400 - 5,600

Sold: HKD 32,500

Gilded metal, open-face, key-winding, round-shaped, pair-cased pocket watch, with its protective case.
· Gilded metal triple case with horn panels painted in imitation of tortoise-shell, with 18K or 20K yellow gold piqué décor (stitched decoration).
· Gilded metal pair case in repoussé-technique showing “The Marriage of Alexander and Roxana” (or “Alexander Crowning Roxana”).
· Gilded metal (18K or 20K gold ?) polished case.
White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals; blued steel “Poker & Beetle” hands.
Movement 15’’’, gilded brass, fusee and chain, verge escapement, monometallic balance (gilded brass) and blued steel flat hairspring, pierced and engraved gilded English cock with dragon, chimera and foliage; back-winding.


Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good

Case: 3

Good

Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-71-01

Good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Hairlines

HANDS Original

Brand Joseph Martineau Senior, London

Year Circa 1770

Movement No. 2 278

Case No. 2 278

Caliber 15’’’, fusee and chain, verge escapement

Dimensions Ø 49.6 mm. / Ø 56.8 mm. (protective case)

Signature Dial and Movement

Notes

The repoussé-work on this watch has remained in near mint condition thanks to the triple protective case. This type of watch is usually found in gold or even in silver. Very few examples made in copper metal, then gilded, exist. Note also that this watch has just been entirely cleaned by a watchmaker specialising in antique watches.
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Iconography
The décor of this watch represents the “Marriage of Alexander and Roxana” (or “Alexander Crowning Roxana”), after a work by Antoine Coypel (1661-1722). This work is known by the tapestry kept at Paris in the Mobilier national de France and the fragment of the carton kept in Paris at the Louvre (Inv. 3 479). See Garnier-Pelle, 1989, pp. 98-99, No. 16, fig. 30. It should also be noted that one or two paintings on this subject, produced in Coypel’s circle, are known today.
The repoussé-work may be attributed to Wieland after another known watch with a very similar motif signed by this London goldsmith and chaser. See Edgcumbe, 2000, fig. 136.
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Joseph Martineau Senior
English watchmaker from a French Huguenot family, many of whose members practised in Rouen in Normandy (North-West France).
This highly skilled watchmaker enjoyed a great reputation in London. He was active there between 1744 and 1770 (or 1794?), establishing himself first in Orange Street, then in St. Martin’s Court.
Examples of his work can be found in the catalogues of old and prestigious collections, such as those of Ilbert, Chamberlain and Pierpont Morgan.
Several of his watches, both simple and repeating, clock-watches and nécessaire, are now kept in many museums:
· Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (Inv. 15 086).
· Dresden, Mathematische Physikalische Salon.
· Geneva, Patek Philippe Museum.
· New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (former J. Pierpont Morgan collection, Inv. 17.190.1507a,b; former Admiral Frederic R. Harris collection, Inv. 46.147.2a–p).
A very important and impressive silver carriage clock-watch, with quarter-repeater, music and bell chimes, case chiselled by Christopher Heckel, was part of the Marcel van Cauwenbergh collection, Brussels, and was sold at auction by our company in 1989 in Hong Kong; see:
· Antiquorum, Hong Kong, auction, May 29, 1989, lot 569, sold for the amount of HK$ 1 245 750.- (~ CHF 250 000.-).
Richard Edgcumbe in his remarkable book “The Art of the Gold Chaser” (Oxford and London, 2000) refers to this watch but also to some other Martineau watches with repoussé cases signed by Henry Moser, Parbury, Wieland and John Gastrell.
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Bibliography
· Edgcumbe, Richard, The Art of the Gold Chaser in Eighteenth-Century London, Oxford University Press in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2000, pp. 61, 139, 140, 150, 151, 171, fig. 42 a-b, fig. 85 (repoussé-work signed by Moser), fig. 123 (repoussé-work signed by Moser), fig. 131 (repoussé-work signed by Parbury), fig. 136 a-b (repoussé-work signed by Wieland).
· Garnier-Pelle, Nicole, Antoine Coypel (1661-1722), Paris, Editions Arthena, 1989, pp. 98-99, No. 16, fig. 30.
· Lefrançois, Thierry, Charles Coypel (1694-1752), Peintre du roi, Paris, Editions Arthena, 1994.
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