149,250 CHF
"Les Escargots de René Lalique" J. Pourrat & Fils, Genève, No. 17123, made circa 1895. The case made by René Lalique especially for the Paris 1900 Exhibition. Exceptional and very important Art Nouveau quarter repeat-ing 18K gold hunting cased keyless pocket watch with pate de verre decoration by René Lalique. Four-body, "bassine", matte, the band inscribed "R. Laliqve1900", the hinged and sprung front cover pierced and veryfinely wrought with three snails extending from their ribbedshells amongst stylized foliage, the shells and leaves made frominset panels of celadon-green pate de verre, the shells also form-inghighly stylized grotesque faces, the snail’s body becoming atongue, the back cover decorated to match the front but withsmooth-shelled pate de verre snails. Hinged gold cuvette over-laidwith deep-red lacquer. White enamel with radialRoman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic five-minutenumerals, subsidiary seconds. Pierced gold "Louis" hands. Notes René Lalique The son of “commissionaire en merchandises” Auguste Jules Lalique and his wife Olympe, René Lalique was born on April 6, 1860, in Aÿ, in France’s Marne region. The family settled in Paris in 1862. His father having died in 1876, René became apprenticed to jeweler Louis Aucoc and attended evening classes at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs. From 1878 to 1880, he studied at Sydenham College in London. After returning to Paris, Lalique worked for a year with the jeweler Auguste Petit fils, then went
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-05-15
