553,500 CHF
Ulysses and Andromache or The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas. Blois or Paris painted on enamel case enamel attributed to Jean II and Henry Toutin, movement signed J(acob) van Leeuwaerden, Haerlem, circa 1650. Magnificent and extremely rare 22K gold and painted on enamel “savonette” pre balance-spring, single-hand pendant watch. Two-body, “bassine”, very finely painted on enamel in a pointillistic style, the back depicting the Ulysses asking Andromache to return Astyanax, the son of Hector, or alternately, the meeting of Dido and Aeneas after a lost painting by Sebastien Bourdon (1616-1671), the front with the scene of Sophonisba receiving the poison, the band having four vignettes painted with landscapes (one very slightly restored), inside the cover a rural scene with a traveler, a fisherman and ruins, inside the back similarly painted to the inside cover, with a traveler in a rural landscape. White enamel, radial Roman numerals on a narrow white enamel chapter ring, fleur-de-lis half-hour markers, center painted on enamel with a traveler crossing a stream, a village on the other bank, mountains in the background, and wild geese flying. Single long gilt “tulip” hand. 38 mm, hinged, gilt brass full plate, widely pierced Egyptian pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm steel balance with 1.5-coil balance spring (originally springless), small well-finished, pierced and asymmetrically engraved gilt brass cock secured by a screw with earlier pin marks, endless screw
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-10-11
