Slim Swiss gold watch with polychrome enamel scene Circa 1910

Gold lever pocket watch
–
A very fine and slim Swiss 14K gold and painted on enamel keyless dress pocket watch Lady at the Fountain, circa 1910. Rhodium plated movement, 15 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance, self-compensating balance spring, index regulator.
Case wide hinged bezel decorated with an inner band of painted on enamel roses and leaves on a pale green guilloche ground, outer band of dark green painted on enamel laurel leaves outlined with white enamel, reeded band, the hinged back cover with border decorated to match the bezel, the center with a finely painted on enamel scene in the manner of Alma-Tadema of a young maiden in classical dress in a marble interior with a dog and a fountain and pool.
Two-tone gold and silver dial with matte chapter ring and Breguet numerals within circular silvered reserves, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds, engine turned center. Blued steel spade hands.
–
Diameter: 46 mm
–
Signed: No name
–
Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (1836 – 1912) was Dutch, and came to England in 1869. A great Anglophile, he became very much part of the English establishment, becoming ARA in 1876, RA in 1879 and gaining a knighthood in 1899. Early influences on his art included George Ebers, a famous Egyptologist, and he painted some ancient Egyptian scenes, most notably Pastimes in Ancient Egypt in 1864. However, after a visit to Pompeii, he painted above all the life of ancient Greece and Rome, concentrating on the domestic and the homely rather than the dramatic.