Exceptional horologic works of art

Hotel Noga Hilton, Geneva, Oct 11, 2003

LOT 115

Ulysses and Andromache or The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas. Blois or Paris painted on enamel case enamel attributed to Jean II and Henry Toutin, movement signed J(acob) van Leeuwaerden, Haerlem, circa 1650. Magnificent and extremely rare 22K gold and painted on enamel “savonette” pre balance-spring, single-hand pendant watch.

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Sold: CHF 553,500

C. Two-body, “bassine”, very finely painted on enamel in a pointillistic style, the back depicting the Ulysses asking Andromache to return Astyanax, the son of Hector, or alternately, the meeting of Dido and Aeneas after a lost painting by Sebastien Bourdon (1616-1671), the front with the scene of Sophonisba receiving the poison, the band having four vignettes painted with landscapes (one very slightly restored), inside the cover a rural scene with a traveler, a fisherman and ruins, inside the back similarly painted to the inside cover, with a traveler in a rural landscape. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals on a narrow white enamel chapter ring, fleur-de-lis half-hour markers, center painted on enamel with a traveler crossing a stream, a village on the other bank, mountains in the background, and wild geese flying. Single long gilt “tulip” hand. M. 38 mm, hinged, gilt brass full plate, widely pierced Egyptian pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm steel balance with 1.5-coil balance spring (originally springless), small well-finished, pierced and asymmetrically engraved gilt brass cock secured by a screw with earlier pin marks, endless screw wind-up, short train with five-leaf pinions.Signed on the movement.Diam. 46 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3 - 15
Dial: 3 - 19 -01

HANDS Original

Notes

A watch decorated with an identical scene to that on the back of the present watch, and considered by Catherine Cardinal to depict the meeting of Dido and Aeneas, is in the Louvre Museum Olivier collection, (Inv. OA 8320). It is described and illustrated in the catalogue of the Louvre Collection, T. I., and in an article by Ms. Cardinal, “Les émailleurs et la décoration des montres”, published in L'Objet d'art, No. 86. We gratefully acknowledge the information contributed by Catherine Cardinal.A watch with an identical scene, attributed to the Frères Toutin, and considered by Dr. Hans Boeckh to represent Ulysses asking Andromache to return Astyanax, the son of Hector, is in the Patek Philippe Museum, No. S 544. A further watch, in a private collection, and decorated with the same two scenes as the present watch, was exhibited in Avignon in 1998, in the exhibition “Trésors d'horlogerie. Le Temps et sa mesure du Moyen Age à la Renaissance” and is illustrated as No. 121 of the catalogue. Henry (b. 1614) and Jean II (b- 1619) Toutin, renowned painters on enamel, were the sons of Jean Toutin, the celebrated artist who is considered to be the inventor of the technique of painting on enamel which was to revolutionize the styles and forms of watch cases. Around 1640, the two brothers moved from Blois to Paris.