English gold duplex watch made for Chinese market Circa 1815
- Kenmerk
- TA1570
- Diameter
- 60 mm
- Estimate
- € 90.000 - 180.000
- Price sold
- € 249.400
Gold, enamel and pearl-set pocket watch
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An extremely fine and very rare English 18K gold, enamel and pearl-set centre seconds duplex pocket watch made for the Chinese market, circa 1815. Feeding the Rabbits, the enamel attributed to Jean-Francois-Victor Dupont. The fixed band, pendant and bow with royal blue, pale blue and white champlevé enamelled decoration, the bezels set with split pearls, a fine painted on enamel scene depicting three children feeding a rabbit, one cradling a baby rabbit and a wooded landscape on the back.
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Hinged gold cuvette engraved with scrolls and a central rosette. White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals, outer minute and seconds divisions, Arabic quarter-hour numerals, gold ovoid hands. A gilt-brass movement, Chinese calibre, fully engraved with floral decoration, standing barrel, single wheel duplex escapement, plain five-arm polished steel balance, flat balance spring, diamond endstone, index regulator. Movement signed.
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An extremely fine and very rare English 18K gold, enamel and pearl-set centre seconds duplex pocket watch made for the Chinese market, circa 1815. Feeding the Rabbits, the enamel attributed to Jean-Francois-Victor Dupont. The fixed band, pendant and bow with royal blue, pale blue and white champlevé enamelled decoration, the bezels set with split pearls, a fine painted on enamel scene depicting three children feeding a rabbit, one cradling a baby rabbit and a wooded landscape on the back.
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Hinged gold cuvette engraved with scrolls and a central rosette. White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals, outer minute and seconds divisions, Arabic quarter-hour numerals, gold ovoid hands. A gilt-brass movement, Chinese calibre, fully engraved with floral decoration, standing barrel, single wheel duplex escapement, plain five-arm polished steel balance, flat balance spring, diamond endstone, index regulator. Movement signed.
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Diameter: 60 mm
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Signed: Ilbery London
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The scene painted on this watch is one of the charming depictions of children with their pets that were so popular at the beginning of the 19th Century. Many of these images derive from English engravings and prints of the period by artists such as Francis Wheatley, William Hamilton and George Morland.
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William Ilbery (circa 1760-1839). Active in London from 1780 in Goswell Street, he moved to Duncan Terrace towards the end of the 18th century. After James Cox in London and Jaquet Droz in Switzerland, he also specialized in producing luxury watches for the Chinese market. His early production was very much in the English style, featuring a full plate movement and an English-type single-wheel duplex escapement. However, for his highest-quality watches, he incorporated a spring detent escapement. Later, the watch movements he produced were much inspired by the Lépine calibre with a free-standing barrel, as were Jaquet Droz’s Swiss production signed in London and that of William Anthony, who worked in London. The cases of his watches were sumptuously decorated by the best Genevan enamellers, such as Jean-Francois-Victor Dupont, who usually signed his work, and Jean-Louis Richter, who signed rarely. He organized the production in Switzerland, mainly in Fleurier, of profusely engraved movements for the Asian market. He was followed in this by makers such as Bovet and Juvet who also worked in Fleurier (Val de Travers). Ilbery can therefore be considered one of the most representative makers of ‘Chinese’ watches. He seems to have maintained close contacts with the continental trade since a watch signed ‘Ilbery Paris’ is known and Ilbery & Son are recorded in London and Fleurier, as well as in Canton.a
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Signed: Ilbery London
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The scene painted on this watch is one of the charming depictions of children with their pets that were so popular at the beginning of the 19th Century. Many of these images derive from English engravings and prints of the period by artists such as Francis Wheatley, William Hamilton and George Morland.
–
William Ilbery (circa 1760-1839). Active in London from 1780 in Goswell Street, he moved to Duncan Terrace towards the end of the 18th century. After James Cox in London and Jaquet Droz in Switzerland, he also specialized in producing luxury watches for the Chinese market. His early production was very much in the English style, featuring a full plate movement and an English-type single-wheel duplex escapement. However, for his highest-quality watches, he incorporated a spring detent escapement. Later, the watch movements he produced were much inspired by the Lépine calibre with a free-standing barrel, as were Jaquet Droz’s Swiss production signed in London and that of William Anthony, who worked in London. The cases of his watches were sumptuously decorated by the best Genevan enamellers, such as Jean-Francois-Victor Dupont, who usually signed his work, and Jean-Louis Richter, who signed rarely. He organized the production in Switzerland, mainly in Fleurier, of profusely engraved movements for the Asian market. He was followed in this by makers such as Bovet and Juvet who also worked in Fleurier (Val de Travers). Ilbery can therefore be considered one of the most representative makers of ‘Chinese’ watches. He seems to have maintained close contacts with the continental trade since a watch signed ‘Ilbery Paris’ is known and Ilbery & Son are recorded in London and Fleurier, as well as in Canton.a
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Jean-Francois-Victor Dupont (1785-1863) was probably the finest painter on the enamel of his age working in Geneva. His work included portraits of distinguished figures like King George IV and Henry VI as well as boxes and particularly watches destined for the Chinese Market. For the latter, he cooperated frequently with Ilbery as well as Piguet & Meylan. A particular feature of his work was his ability to paint a group of figures posed in the same plane without giving an impression of overcrowding. His distinctive palette may well derive from the fact that he mixed his own colours.
Signed: Ilbery London
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