English watch with polychrome enamel painting Circa 1785

Gilt metal verge with polychrome enamel painted scene moon-age and phases, visible balance
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An English large and unusual gilt metal pair cased verge watch with polychrome enamel painted scene, jumping quarter seconds, moon-age and phases, visible balance and regulator made for the Chinese market, circa 1785, gilded full-plate movement engraved with flowers and scrolling foliage, verge escapement, fusee and chain, cylindrical pillars, signed Wm. Carpenter, London.
White enamel dial, aperture for paste-set visible balance, 6 subsidiary dials for hours with Roman numerals, minutes, seconds, jumping 1/4 seconds, regulation and moon-age combined with phases
Gilt metal inner case, the back with winding aperture, case maker’s mark FM (possibly PM) with coronet above incuse, gilded outer case, the back with polychrome enamel painted scene after Angelika Kauffman’s painting of ‘Beauty supported by Prudence, Scorns the Offering of Folly’, bezels engraved with leaves and flowers

Diameter: 75 mm
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Signed: Wm. Carpenter London
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A sophisticated timepiece, this watch was designed to be visually arresting with its complex dial showing the movement of its paste-set balance, seconds, and jumping quarter seconds all at once. The decorative nature of the watch continues to the case back where the polychrome enamel painted panel is decorated with a classical scene of three maidens, the one in the center in a white dress suggesting purity, resisting temptations being offered: on her right a garland of grapes, for wine, on her left a mirror, for vanity. Symbols associated with Bacchus including a thyrsus and possibly a snake are on the ground. Jumping quarter seconds are rare yet, when found, are usually seen on watches destined for the Eastern markets. Examples of Clocks and Watches by William Carpenter can be found at the Palace Museum, Beijing.