German rose gold and niëllo hunting cased watch Circa 1900

Rose gold ladies full hunter
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A very fine and extremely rare 18 carat rose gold and niëllo hunting cased Glashütte pocket watch, circa 1900. ¾ Plate movement, a club-tooth lever escapement and gold screw compensation balance. White enamel dial with Arabic hours, outer minute track, a sunk centre, sunk subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and Louis XIV hands. The Louis XV case is engraved with Renaissance-style ornaments according to Professor Carl Ludwig Graff depicting a cornucopia and a pair of birds as well as flowers and oak leaves on a dark niëllo ground, a central medallion on both sides, the one on the back showing an image of the Roman goddess Minerva, the edges intricately ornamented with palmetto leaves and an egg & dart pattern. Dial signed, case and movement signed and numbered, case and movement with matching numbers.
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Diameter: 37 mm
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Weight: 49 g
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Signed: Uhrenfabrik Union Glashütte in Sachsen
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Professor Carl Ludwig Theodor Graff was appointed director of the Institute of Applied Arts in Dresden (Dresdner Kunstgewerbeschule) in 1875, to create designs in this vein. From the 1880s, more and more ostentatious decorations were created at Lange & Söhne. Graff then copyrighted his design which had won first prize in the Institute of Applied Arts’ 1890 competition for the design and decoration of pocket watch cases.