The Sandberg Watch Collection

Hotel Richemond, Geneva, Mar 31, 2001

LOT 179

Colère d'Achille.Attributed to James Cox, London, circa 1765.Magnificent and extremely rare 20 ct. gold, silver, ivory enamel, ruby and emerald-set fan with a watch and a compartment containing a small mirror and the winding key, made for the Ch'ien Lung Imperial family (1736-1795), of the Ch'ing Dynasty. In a Chinese fitted box.Fan: Two-sided, frame with 16 ivory sticks. Down the length of each of the guardsticks is, within a diamond foliate design, a dragon chasing a snake made up entirely of emeralds and rubies. The edges of the sixteen closed sticks are jointly carved with two dragons, one on each side of the fan; when the fan is open, their pierced and carved floral and lattice decoration is dominated by two winged dragons. These have five claws on each foot, a decorative privilege restricted to the Chinese Imperiafamily. The paper leaf is painted with a scene adapted from a painting by Antoine Coypel (1661-1722) of a quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, which was engraved by Nicolas Tardieu with the title 'Colère d'Achille'. The central figure is Agamemnon, who had won a priest's daughter as a prize of war and then given her up, following the advice of the seer Calchas, who foresaw disaster. There was trouble anyway, as Agamemnon, to compensate for the loss, seized a slave-girl Briseis belonging to Ahilles. Agamemnon is pointing imperiously outside Achilles' tent who, although he has been omitted from this adaptation, has his hand on the sword he is about to draw. The reverse is also painted and has a landscape with a shepherdess on a donkey and a companion beside her. The fan pivot, with ruby-set bezels, is in gold and Imperial blue translucent champlevé enamel. The front contains the watch and the matching back has a moss agate in the centre covering a compartment containing a small mirroand the winding key.D. White enamel, Roman chapters, outer minute ring. Blued-steel 'heart and poker' hands. M. Oval, 21.2 x 19.6 mm., gilt brass full plate, cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, single-footed cock, pierced and engraved with asymmetrical foliage.Dim. height 280 mm, width 530 mm. Published in the Sandberg book, pages 378-379.SFr.: * * *