Important Watches, Wristwatches and C...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Apr 18, 1998

LOT 202

Ilbery, London, No. 6213, Swiss, made for the Chinese Market, circa 1820. Very fine 18K gold and enamel, pearl-set, centreseconds watch, the enamel attributed to Jean-Louis Richter.

CHF 50,000 - 60,000

C. Double body, Empire, with fixed bezel, the band with a split-pearl inlaid champleve decoration, splitpearl set bezels pendant and bow with a champleve enamelled decoration, the back enamel panel painted with a scene depicting The rapt of Helen by Paris, after a composition by Guido Reni (1575-1642), in the Louvre, Paris (Inventory No. 1456). Hinged gold cuvette engraved with decoration. D. White enamel with Roman numerals, outer minutes and seconds ring. Gold "spade" hands. M. 21"', gilt brass, Chinese calibre, with free standing barrel, entirely engraved, single wheel duplex escapement, plain polished-steel three-arm balance, flat balance spring with regulator and diamond end-stone. Signed on the movement. Diam. 59 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent

Case: 18

Spotted

Movement: 2

Very good

Dial: 22-51

Later original

Partially reprinted

Notes

The figures of the young couple were isolated from the original composition to he transfered in the landscape of Geneva, so that we see now the lake and the mountain Saleve on the background. A similar watch previously in the Gustave Loup Collection, in the I-lorological Museum of Geneva is described and illustr ated by Dr. Hans Boeckh in Emiln,alerei au/ GenJlrTushenuhren vow 17. bas zoo beginnenrlen 1 9. /ahalu ndert, Fribourg i. Br. 1982, and by A. Chapuis in La Mon[re Chinoise, Neuchatel, p. 123. Refer to lot 200 for the note on Ilbery. Jean Louis Richter (1766-1841) He learned his art under David-Etienne-Roux and Philippe- Samuel-Theodore Roux, becoming a most renowned enamel painter. His speciality was the painting of landscapes and particularly lake and marine scopes, 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 recognised as being in his hand from the style and quality of the work. He applied his art principally to watch cases and snuff boxes and these were largely destined for the Chinese, Turkish, 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 Bautista Cipriani (1727-1785), John Francis Rigaucl (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.