300,500 CHF
Piguet & Capt, Geneva, the box by Jean-Georges Rémond, the enamel painted by Jean-Louis Richter, circa 1810. Extremely fine and rare pair of 18K gold and enamel, snuffboxes with automaton scene and a built-in watch. Both rectangular with canted corners, the hinged central enamel panel of the lids respectively painted with scenes depicting children at play, side panels disclosing the watches and the automaton scenes, decorated with the profile figures of Socrate and Minerva (Virtue), painted en grisaille over a scarlet ground on one of the boxes, antique figures over an azure ground on the other, blue flinqué side and base panels and further champlevé enamelled decoration. White enamel with Arabic numeals and subsidiary seconds. Blued steel "spade" hands. The blue enamelled dial-plate with champlevé decoration. Rectangular, gilt brass full plate, with cylindrical pillars, going barrel, cylinder escapement with plain gilt brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring and steel end-piece. Automaton scenes: identical on both boxes: a painted enamel landscape with an automaton windmill turning in the background; each of the varicoloured gold automaton scenes featuring stonemasons at work. Automata driven by independent trains, by means of cams and levers.Signed on the movements.Dim. 72 x 35 x 13 mm. Notes These boxes, although undoubtedly made as a pair, are unusual in having different scenes on the lids, albeit involving similar characters, in general the subjects are simpl
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1999-11-13
