Swiss 18 Carat rose gold enamel pocket watch Circa 1795

Attractive open faced pocket watch by Jean Viridet
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An attractive Swiss gold enamel pocket watch of museum quality, circa 1795. Studded with seed pearls; the enamelling is attributed to the workshop of Jean-Louis Richter in Geneva.
The back is decorated with a cartouche shaped enamel medallion with a finely painted scene showing a young mother with two children over translucent cobalt blue engine-turned pattern. The miniature is surrounded by a turquoise coloured Champlevé border with chased gold and garlands of split pearls; a double row of very small, fine split pearls frames the whole picture. The front is similarly decorated with a double row of pearls.
The case is 18 Carat rose gold, polychrome enamel. The signed dial is white enamel with Arabic numerals. It has a full plate movement, a chain/fusee and a three-arm brass balance.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 85 g
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Signed:  Jean Viridet, Genève
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Jean-Louis Richter (1766-1841) learned his art under David-Etienne-Roux and Philippe-Samuel-Théodore Roux. He specialized in landscapes, lake-side scenes and marine-scapes, often representing ships in a harbor or battles with Men-of-War, but also portraits and hunting scenes. Richter did not often sign his work, but he style and quality of his paintings make them clearly recognizable as being of his hand. He applied his art principally to watch cases and snuff boxes and these were largely destined for the Chinese, Turkish, British and Italian markets.