Magnificent German 22 carat single-handed watch Circa 1650

Gold and enamel single-handed verge watch
–
Magnificent, extremely rare and important German large 22K gold and enamel hunting cased single-handed verge pendant watch with concealed dial, circa 1650. Peace and the Seven Cardinal Virtues. Gilt-brass full plate movement, round baluster pillars, fusee and chain, short four-wheel train, verge escapement, two-arm steel circular foliot, elongated pierced and engraved cock secured by a screw, worm and wheel set-up.
The case is entirely and finely painted on enamel, curved band, a scene depicting the alliance between Peace and Justice on the front, on the inside of the front cover Fortitude and Wisdom, on the back an allegory of Charity and on the inside of the back cover Hope and Faith, the band painted with a continuous rural landscape, short gold enamelled pendant.
Gold dial with black radial Roman hours on a polished ring, half-hour divisions, the centre with a painted enamel depiction of Temperance pouring wine into a goblet and a gilt tulip hand.
–
Diameter: 62 mm
–
Signed: Johang Oldnburg Hamburg
–
It is rare to find such a large, early and painted on enamel “bassine fermée” watch case made in Germany. The technique of painting on enamel had been developed by Jean Toutin in Blois in 1632, barely twenty years before. It is therefore astonishing to see how quickly and expertly certain German artists were able to assimilate the technique. This watch appears to be the earliest German watch enamelled in the Blois manner.