Swiss gold and enamel open faced verge watch Circa 1680

Gold and enamel verge watch
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An important Swiss gold and enamel open faced verge pocket watch, Herod, Herodias and Salome, circa 1680
The case with a polychrome enamel painting on the back within a gold-copper frame depicting King Herod, his wife Herodias and Salome according to the legend, on Herod’s birthday Salome danced before the guests and everyone was so enraptured by her dancing that the King promised to give her whatever she would ask for, instructed by her mother, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist, Herod had John beheaded and his head was delivered to Salome on a platter, four lateral vignettes with lake land castles and farmsteads on the band separated by yellow volute ribbons and a signature plaque, the interior is painted with a wanderer in a red coat walking along the alpine lake, in the lake are two islands with fortresses probably after a painting by Dutch painter Paul Bril, the enamelling signed Les Frères Huaut. White enamel dial with Roman hours, Arabic five-minute numerals and decorative gold hands.
Full plate movement of approximately 1750, chain and fusee, three-arm brass balance.
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Diameter: 43 mm
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Weight: 74 g
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Signed: Christin à Berne
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The painted on enamel cases by ‘Les deux Frères Huaut’ were among the finest examples of their kind from the Geneva School and were not only highly valued when originally made, but remained as art treasures in the centuries that followed. A perfect example is this watch case, which was deemed of such excellent quality that it merited a custom-made movement, at the beginning of the 19th century. Apparently, several examples of cases enamelled by members of the Huaud family were still available at the period, for many watches with a later movement by other makers are known to have been specially made to be housed in these cases. Pierre Huaud I was the founder of the Huaud dynasty.
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Pierre Huaud I (Le Pere), Geneva, 1612-1680. Born in Chatellerault, France, son of French goldsmith Jean Huaud, a refugee in Geneva in 1630 at the age of 18, indicating that he may well have begun his training under his father or another French goldsmith. Some sources suggest that this may have been in Blois and that his subsequent full apprenticeship under Legère was required in order to be received as Master in Geneva. Apprenticed to Laurent Legère in the same year, a companion in 1634 and Master in 1636. Married in 1643 to Françoise Mussard and amongst their children, three sons who became enamellers – Pierre II (1647-1698), Jean-Pierre (1655-1725) and Ami (1657-1724). In 1671, Pierre I and his three sons were made ‘bourgeois’ of the city of Geneva.
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Paul Bril, born in Antwerp in 1554 and died in Rome, on October 7, 1626, was a Southern Netherlandish painter of landscapes from the Baroque period.