Althought it is not signed, this watch can be attributed to William Ilbery who was the only one producing at that time watches for the Chinese Market with the bridges and the barrel cover overlaid in solid gold. A similar movement, signed by Ilbery, from the G. Loup Collection, is illustrated in A. Chapuis: La Mantra Chinoise, Neuchatel 1919, p. 182. A similar watch was sold by Antiquorum in Hong Kong on 18 June 1994. Due to the quality of the painting and the colours used, the enamel can be attributed to Richter. Jean Louis Richter (1766-1841) He learned his art under David-Etienne-Roux and Philippe- Samuel-Theodore Roux, becoming a most renowned enamel painter. His speciality was the painting of landscapes and particularly lake and marine scapes, often representing ships in a harbour or battles with fighting Men-of-War. He also painted portraits and hunting scenes. Although it may happen that his signature, in running hand-writing, appears on some of his works, more often than not his pantings are unsigned but can clearly be recognised as being in his hand from the style and quality of the work. He applied his art principally to watch cases and snuff boxes and these were largely destined for the Chinese, Turkish, British and Italian markets. Richter, like other great enamel painters of the time, often found inspiration for his work from paintings or engravings by the artists then in fashion, such as Van der Myn (1684- 1741), Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785), John Francis Rigaud (1742-1820), John Hoffner (1748-1810) and Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), or even from particularly famous scenes such as the "Rape of Helen" from the engraving by Guido Reni (1575-1642), now in the Cabinet des Estampes, Paris.