333,500 CHF
The Hunt. Attributed to Piguet & Capt, Geneva, case by "SN", made for the Chinese market, circa 1805. Magnificent and extremely rare 18K gold and enamel, pearl-set musical spyglass with concealed automaton scene and built-in watch, made for the Chinese market. Fully operational spyglass with two concentric sliding cylinders, an eyepiece and lenses. The eyepiece and neck with a foliate pattern of blue, white and black champlevé enamel. The two cylinders are decorated with the same pattern of crosshatched azure and white enamel lines forming a geometrical pattern of black enamel and engraved gold rhomboids, the upper and lower edges set with half pearls. The inner cylinder can be rotated, revealing either the automaton or the watch. The automaton represents hunters on horseback revolving against an enameled panel depicting a house in the woods with an animated waterfall. White enamel, Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions with fifteen-minute Arabic markers. Gilt "cathedral" hands. Notes Small and precious objects de vertu, finely decorated with champlevé enamel and embellished with delicate automaton scenes and music, were among the most extraordinary "pièces de résistance" produced by the incomparable artisans working in Geneva during the early 19th century. Among all the princely toys created by these master craftsmen -- the singing bird pistols, watches, tabatières, urns and mirror, the snuffboxes with music and varicolored gold automaton scenes, to name just a
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-10-11
