These boxes, although undoubtedly made as a pair, are unusual in having different scenes on the lids, albeit involving similar characters, in general the subjects are simply reversed.Previously in the John Asprey Collection, this watch was part of the exhibition in New York, ASPREY, 725 Fifth Avenue: Magic, Musical and Motion, an exhibition of rare 18th and 19th century watches, boxes and automata, from the Asprey private collection,No. 24 and 25, p. 35 of the catalogue.Piguet & CaptFrom Ventôse An X (1802), to 1811, Daniel Isaac Piguet formed a partnership with Henry-Daniel Capt, native from the same village. Their signature was Piguet & Capt à Genève.Jean-Louis Richter (1766-1841)He learned his art under David-Etienne-Roux and Philippe-Samuel-Théodore Roux, becoming a most renowned enamel painter. His speciality was the painting of landscapes and particularly lake and marine scapes, often representing ships in a harbour or battles with fighting Men-of-War. He also painted portraits and hunting scenes. Although it may happen that his signature, in running hand-writing, appears on some of his work, more often than not his pantings are unsigned but can clearly be recognisedas being in his hand from the style and quality of the work. He applied his art principally to watch cases and snuffboxes and these were largely destined for the Chinese, Islamic, British and Italian markets.Richter, like other great enamel painters of the time, often found inspiration for his work from paintings or engravings by the artists then in fashion, such as 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 even from particularly famous scenes such as the "Rape of Helen" from the engraving by Guido Reni (1575-1642), now in the Cabinet des Estampes, Paris.