Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, May 14, 2017

LOT 152

''LA RENCONTRE DE CLÉOPATRE ET ANTOINE'' OTTO SCHROEDER, KIEL.Made circa 1680. Fine, gold and painted on enamel pocket watch.

CHF 10,000 - 20,000

HKD 80,000 - 160,000 / USD 10,000 - 20,000

TO BE SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE

Sold: CHF 6,875

Two-body, "bassine" with curved-in edges, the back painted scene, the interior decorated with a rural landscape, the band with four cartouches depicting countryside landscapes, loose ring pendant. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track with five-minute Arabic numerals. Blue steel hands 37 mm., hinged, gilt brass full plate, conical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance, pierced and engraved foliate continental clock, polished steel endplate garnet endstone, silver regulation dial Movement signed.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image

Grading System
Grade: A

Good

Case: 3

Good

Movement: 4*

Fair

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-25-01

Good

Chipped

HANDS Original

Notes

DIAM. 47 mm. The present lot was previously sold by Neumarkt on September 20, 1968. The painting (approx. 1650) of Sebastien Bourdon (1616-1671) has been completely lost today. It is due to its similar style that this paiting was attributed (see Thuillier, Jacques, Sebastien Bourdon, catalogue critique et chronologique de l'oeuvre complet, Paris, 2000, p.210 No 71 and p. 226-227, No. 81) The subject depicts the meeting of Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt and Anthony, roman general and politician in Tarse, capital of meridonial Anatolia (today Turkey). It is a historical fact that after many issues, the couple is led to suicide due to the lack of flexibility of the emperor at the time, Octavia. The theme of Anthony and Cleopatra appears in french theater around 1552, under the reign of Henri the second. Etienne Jodelle (1532-1573)creates the play to show the royals depicting the trapped Cleopatra as a lesson of morals. This first french tragedy was designed to warn people of the dangers of love and passion. The author is instantly credited for humanism in theater and is admitted, the following year in the circle of pleiad, a group of seven poets gathered around Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585). Similar pieces can be found in the New York museum of modern art and in the Musee de la Chaux de Fonds (INV. I-553). To be sold without reserve