495,600 HKD
“Barking Dog with Cat, the Smallest Known” I. D. Piguet & P. Meylan, Geneva, No. 282. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1820. Very rare and very small 18K gold pearl-set quarter-repeating "barking dog" automaton watch. Eccentric, set at the top of translucent Imperial blue enamel engine-turned plate, white enamel, Breguet numerals, outer minute track. Blued steel "lozenge" hands. The lower half with applied varicolored gold and silver automaton scene of a dog barking at a cat, the dog moving its head with each movement of the bellows, the whole on applied gold grass with a tree behind. Notes The watch repeats the hours and quarters with the sound of a barking dog, the rarest form of repeating. There are only about 20 of these watches known, of which the majority are after Jean-Baptiste Oudry's painting "Dog Attacked by a Swan". The present watch with the more realistic scene of a dog barking at a cat, is extremely rare. Additionally, the majority of barking dog watches are based on 44 or 45 mm. movements (20'''), while this one is only 14'''. We know of only one other such watch, which may in fact be its pendant. The original back of the present watch, in this case probably enameled in blue, was replaced by a glass so that the enamel scene featuring musical instruments could be more easily admired. Isaac Daniel Piguet Born in 1775 in Le Chenit in the Vallée de Joux, Isaac Daniel Piguet was the son of Pierre Moïse Piguet and Elisabeth Nicole. He married Jean
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-06-02
