Italian 20K gold and enamel pair cased verge watch Circa 1700

Gold verge watch with painted enamel by Carlo Rupano
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A very fine, rare Italian 20 carat gold and enamel pair-cased watch, circa 1700. Hinged, gilt brass full plate movement with round baluster pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain four armed brass balance, double footed cock pierced and engraved with scrolling foliage. White enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic minutes. Two bodied case, bassine shaped, finely painted on enamel case back, with a scene depicting Venus and Mars, signed by Frères Huaut, four vignettes painted with rural landscapes, to the inside a painted traveller among ruins with engraved spit bezel.
Movement and case signed.
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Diameter protective outer case: 43 mm
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Signed: Carlo Rupano Venezia
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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Frères Huaut’ were among the finest examples of their kind from the Geneva School and were not only highly valued when originally made, but remained as art treasures in the centuries that followed.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.