HebeAttributed to Jaquet-Droz

HebeAttributed to Jaquet-Droz, the enamel painting attributed to the workshop of Abraham Lissignol, circa 1790. Extremely fine and very rare 18 ct. gold and enamel, pearl- and ruby-set double train, three-tune musical repeating watch with centre seconds and stop feature, made for the Chinese market. White enamel, Roman chapters, outer minute ring and quarter second divisions for the centre seconds hand. Gold Breguet hands with cutout tips. Notes A watch whose movement has similar characteristics is published in La Montre Chinoise, Alfred Chapuis, plate after page 60.Hebe,the daughter of Zeus and Hera, was the Greek goddess of Youth. She was a cupbearer to the gods. Her father's love affairs were lively and complicated; he often had to resort to metamorphosis to escape his wife's jealousy, becoming, for instance an eagle, while abducting Ganymede whom he brought to Olympus and made cup bearer, thus taking Hebe's place. Since Hebe represents youth and beauty, in seventeenth century England, portraying a woman as Hebe was a way of honouring the model's beauty.Jean Abraham Lissignol,born in Geneva on May 1749, died in Plainpalais on June 28, 1819. One of the best enamel painters of the later part of the eighteenth century, he was the pupil of Jean-Marc Roux and later became his partner. He specialised in decorating enamelled snuffboxes and watch cases, working for Jaquet-Droz, Leschot, the Rochat brothers, and John Rich.'Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois', Osvaldo Pa Read more…