The Sandberg Watch Collection

Hotel Richemond, Geneva, Mar 31, 2001

LOT 123

Venus and AdonisJames Cox, London, circa 1775.Fine and rare, 18 ct. gold and gilt metal, ruby-set, painted on enamel, automaton watch designed as a heart with concealed enamel erotic scenes, made for the Chinese market.

CHF 60,000 - 80,000

USD 36,000 - 48,000

C. Three-body, 'Consular', heart-shaped, hinged back with painted enamelled allegory of Venus and Adonis, the inside back enamel with a nymph grasping her Adonis in a watery grotto perhaps symbolic of the condition of the gentleman's eyes, the dome decorated with a lady and gentleman in enthusiastic conversation on a sofa, counter-enamel with a flower bouquet, ruby-set front bezel, back and front bezels with geometrical pattern in blue and white champlevé enamel. D. Heart-shaped, enamelled withlakeside village, a diamond-set animated windmill on either bank, small eccentric white enamel dial with Roman chapters, outer minute divisions with Arabic five minutes, framed by an elaborate pink enamel cartouche. Blued-steel 'spade' hands. M. Heart-shaped, 33 x 34 mm, hinged, gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, cylinder escapement, brass escape wheel, plain three-arm brass balance, flat balance spring, single-footed cock pierced and engraved with asymmetrical scolling, automaton driven by an additional wheel added to the going train which drives two pinions on which the mills are mounted.Signed on the movement.Dim. 55 x 43 mm. Published in the Sandberg book, page 234-235.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 4 - 18
Movement: 3 - 5 - 6*
Dial: 3 - 02

Notes

The watch is illustrated and described in 'Les Heures de l'Amour' by Roland Carrera, Editions Scriptar/Antiquorum, Geneva, 1993, pp. 71-72.Cox JamesFor a biography, see page 150.Venus and AdonisAccording to the legend, Adonis was born from an incestuous union between Myrrha and his father Cinyras, King of Paphos in Cyprus (or possibly Belos, King of Egypt, or even Theias, King of Assyria). The gods transformed Myrrha into the myrrh-tree and in due course Adonis was born from the tree when the trunk was split open by a wild boar. Venus (or Aphrodite) was struck by the beauty of the child Adonis and put him in the care of Persephone (or Proserpine), the queen of the underworld. But Persehone too loved the youth and refused to give him back to Venus. Jupiter (or Zeus) had to pass judgment to resolve the question between the two goddesses. There are two versions of this judgment: in the first, Adonis was to spend a third of the year with each goddess while the rest of the time as he preferred and chose to spend that time with Venus; in the other version, the judgment was made by the Muse Calliope, Jupiter not wishing to arbitrate, and each goddess was allowed to have Adonis for hlf of the year. Both versions are indicative of Adonis' function since he was the god of vegetation and nature. The cause of Adonis' birth became also that of his death because he died after being attacked by a wild boar while hunting. Venus was overcome with despair and from the blood of his wounds, created a new flower, the red anemone, a wild flower that each year blooms briefly and then dies.Adonis, imported probably from the Phoenicians, came to be revered as a dying-and-rising god. In midsummer, Athenians held Adonia, a yearly festival representing his death and resurrection.