Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces
Geneva, Mar 27, 2011
LOT 175
Flournoy - Danaë And The Golden Rain Flournoy, à Geneve. Made circa 1700, enamel attributed to Pierre II Huaud. Fine, gilt-metal and painted on enamel pocket watch, the balance engraved with the English Royal Arms of Queen Anne.
CHF 4,000 - 6,000
USD 4,000 - 6,000 / EUR 3,000 - 4,500
Sold: CHF 5,000
C. Two-body, "bassine", the band engraved with four vignettes of town views intersected by foliate masks, the back set with a painted on enamel of a nude reclining Danaë in the foreground and a servant in the background, as golden rain falls from the sky, the inside painted with ruins and a passing traveler in a landscape. D. Silver champleve, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic five-minute numerals. Steel beetle and poker hands. M. 41 mm. hinged, gilt, fusee and chain, divided Egyptian pillars, verge escapement, three-arm steel balance, large single-footed winged cock pierced and engraved with the Royal Arms of Queen Anne of England, diamond endstone, silver regulation dial. Movement signed. Diam. 47 mm. Property of an Swiss collector
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: A |
Good |
Case: 3-31 |
Good Transformations |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-04 |
Good HANDS Later |
Notes
Danaë and Jupiter When Acrisius, king of Argos, learned from an oracle that his grandson would dethrone him, he had his only daughter Danaë imprisoned in a tower. Jupiter transformed himself into a shower of gold and impregnated Danaë, who gave birth to Perseus. Acrisius refused to believe in divine intervention and locked the mother and the child in a chest which he cast into the sea. Danaë and Perseus are often considered to be the Greek counterpart to the immaculate conception.