Swiss 21 Carat gold and enamel open faced cylinder Circa 1685

Gold cylinder watch with enamel paintings by Jean-Pierre Huaud
–
A Swiss 21 Carat gold and enamel open faced bassine-shaped pocket watch, circa 1685. Later gilded brass movement with going barrel, cylinder escapement, mono-metallic balance and blued steel flat hairspring. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, polychrome enamel painting of a cherub in the centre and a single hand. Case back with polychrome enamel painting, the band with four vignettes depicting rural scenes and to the inside a painted traveller in front of a farm, signed Huaud le puis né fecit by Jean-Pierre Huaud.
–
Diameter: 35 mm
–
Signed: Huaud le puis né fecit Geneva
–
Les Frères Huaut (or Huaud). The cases painted on enamel by ‘Les deux Frères Huaut’ were among the finest examples of their kind from the Geneva School and were not only highly valued when originally made, but remained as art treasures in the centuries that followed. Pierre I was the founder of the Huaud dynasty. He was born in 1612 in Geneva as the son of a French goldsmith Jean Huaud. He settled in Geneva in 1630 and three of his 11 children became famous enamellists like their father: Pierre II (1647-1698), Jean-Pierre (1655-1723) and Ami (1657-1724). The brothers were most likely trained by their father and worked with him. Pierre II started his own business around 1680. Jean-Pierre and Ami became partners in 1682 and were appointed painters to the Prussian court in 1686 when they moved to Berlin and started working for Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688). Among their most well-known works are Diana and Actaeon, The Judgement of Paris, The Holy Family, St. John the Baptist, The Nativity and The Adoration of the Shepherds.