Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, May 13, 2007

LOT 243

?Commedia dell?arte? Guidon, Rémond and Gide Co., Geneva, enamel by Jean-Louis Richter, circa 1800. Magnificent 18K gold and painted on enamel, pearl-set oval snuff box.

CHF 100,000 - 150,000

EUR 60,000 - 93,000 / USD 80,000 - 122,000

Sold: CHF 152,500

C. Two-body, the lid very finely painted with a landscape of Interlaken ? a sleeping shepherdess with her sheep and a goat, a bridge, a castle atop a hill, a lake and mountains in the background, split-pearl border, the sides with four vignettes painted with Alpine scenes surrounded by a spray of exquisite paillons forming flower garlands against translucent imperial blue enamel over engine-turning, the base with a superbly painted scene depicting a traveling Commedia dell?arte theater in the countryside, encircled by exquisite paillon flower garlands, against en suite blue enamel, the whole framed by a gold twisted ribbon pattern on a black and white enamel ground. Punched with the maker?s mark inside the lid, the enamel signed by Richter. Dim. 89 x 61 mm Property of a European Collector


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3-55

Good

Notes

This is one of the finest tabatieres ever produced in Geneva, by the best goldsmiths and enamellists of the period. Richter, who rarely signed his work, must have considered it an exceptional piece. Guidon, Rémond, Gide In 1792, the partners Joseph Guidon, Jean-George Rémond, David Gide, Laurent Guisseling and Jean-Noël Lamy informally began working as Guidon Remond Gide & Co., (the company was officially registered on January 1, 1796). In 1809 the firm took on the name of Jean Georges Rémond et Compagnie, and had offices both in Geneva and Hanau. The partners were Jean-George Rémond, Jean-Noël Lamy, Jean Boëhm, (domicilié à Hanau), Denis Blondet, Laurent Guiseling , and Daniel Berton. In 1811, Jean-George Rémond, Jean-Noël Lamy, Laurent Guisseling, Pierre Mercier and Daniel Berton formed a company known as Remond, Lamy, Mercier & Co. See: "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois" by Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998. Jean-Louis Richter (1766-1841) Learned his art under David-Etienne-Roux and Philippe-Samuel-Théodore Roux. He did not often sign his work, but it is clearly recognizable from the style and quality of the painting. Richter applied his art principally to watch cases and snuff boxes largely destined for the Chinese, Turkish, British and Italian markets. In 1828 he was in partnership with Aimé-Julien Troll (1781-1852). Richter often found inspiration for his work from paintings or engravings by artists in vogue: 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 from scenes such as the ?Abduction of Helen? by Guido Reni (1575-1642).