Swiss gold verge watch made for the Chinese market Circa 1820

Gold, enamel and pearl-set lady’s watch
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A very fine Swiss 18K gold and enamel, pearl-set pocket watch made for the Chinese market, circa 1820. An Empire case, the spring-loaded back with finely painted on enamel scene of two children, a girl feeding ducks and a boy holding an eager dog in a woodland landscape, pearl-set bezels, the band pearl-set with translucent red enamel over engine-turning. Hinged gilt cuvette. Matted gold dial, engine-turned centre, champlevé radial Roman chapter ring, outer minute dot divisions and gold serpentine hands. A gilt-brass full plate movement, circular pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring, two-footed cock pierced and engraved, rack and pinion regulator with silver plate.
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Diameter: 45 mm
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Signed: No name
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The property of an Italian Gentleman.
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The present watch is illustrated in the book of the watch collection of Lord Sandberg. This watch is also illustrated in the article “The Influence of Art on Watch Case Design” by Richard Chadwick. A strong tradition of charming rustic painted on enamel scenes was established in Geneva during the first quarter of the 19th Century. The export of watches to China and the east required not only mechanical ingenuity but superb decorative appeal. What particularly appealed to these markets were images of children involved in charming rural pursuits, artists in England such as George Moreland and Francis Wheatley painted scenes of idealized rural English life and were copied via engravings by the Genevoise enamel painters.