English verge with polychrome enamel scene Circa 1735

Verge watch in later gold cases
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An English verge watch in later gold cases with fine polychrome enamel painted scene by William Hopkins Craft movement, circa 1735, case with enamel scene 1782, gilded full plate movement, verge escapement, decoratively pierced balance cock engraved with foliage, urn to the centre and mask at the neck, fusee and chain, baluster pillars, signed Windmills, London.
White enamel dial, Roman numerals, outer minute ring, gold arrow head hands.
Later plain gold inner case, the back with winding aperture, later gold outer with polychrome enamel painted central plaque depicting Erminia writing the name ‘Tancred’ on a tree, signed and dated to the reverse W: Craft fecit, 1782, the scene with white enamel frame simulating pearls and surrounded by blue guilloché enamel frame, both bezels set with purple guilloché enamel rosettes center with gold flowers all against a white ground.
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Diameter: 50 mm
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Signed: Windmills London
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The enamel plaque to the outer case back is signed by Wiliam Hopkins Craft (1731-1810). Craft was a highly accomplished enameller who used antique, classical and contemporary sources for his work. The scene on the panel is inspired by Jerusalem Delivered written by the Italian poet, Toquato Tasso (1544-1595). Erminia, daughter of the Saracen King of Antioch is depicted writing the name of the Christian knight with whom she is in love, ‘Tancred’, on a tree, while holding a staff in her other hand. The sheep in the foreground belong to an old shepherd who extolled to her the joys of his secluded peaceful existence, in contrast to the war raging not far away. This watch and its enamel scene are discussed by Ian White in his article for Antiquarian Horology, “Clocks and Watches with enamels by William Hopkins Craft”, in the article, White notes that “the composition is based on a 1781 engraving by John Keyse Sherwin after a painting by Angelica Kauffman”.

For a detailed two-part article by Ian White on the work of William Hopkins Craft with several examples of clocks and watches, see Antiquarian Horology June and September 2013.