Swiss gold and gilt verge watch with enamel scene Circa 1682

Gold and enamel verge watch
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A Swiss gold, gilt copper and enamel open faced verge pocket watch, circa 1682-1686. The case back with a polychrome enamel scene after the painting Roman Charity or Cimon and Pero by Peter Paul Rubens and engraving of the painting by Claude Mellan, the enamelling by Les Frères Huaud. White enamel dial with Roman hours, a painted enamel scene in the centre and one hand set with a large stone. Full plate movement, chain and fusee, three-arm brass balance, verge escapement, pierced and engraved balance cock.
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Signed: Simon Vouet Geneva
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Roman Charity refers to the ancient story of a Roman woman who secretly breastfed her father who was sentenced to die of starvation in prison. It is an oil on canvas painting by Peter Paul Rubens executed around 1612, now in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Rubens also returned to the subject in the painting Cimon and Pero executed in 1630, now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
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Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen on June 28, 1577, and he died in Antwerp on May 30, 1640. He was a Flemish baroque painter, draughtsman, tapestry designer and diplomat, who worked in Antwerp. He was also called Pieter Paul, Pieter Pauwel or Petrus Paulus.
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Les Frères Huaut (or Huaud). The cases painted on enamel 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Frères Huaut’ were among the finest examples of their kind from the Geneva School and were not only highly valued when originally made, but remained as art treasures in the centuries that followed. Pierre I was the founder of the Huaud dynasty. He was born in 1612 in Geneva as the son of a French goldsmith Jean Huaud. He settled in Geneva in 1630 and three of his 11 children became famous enamellists like their father: Pierre II (1647-1698), Jean-Pierre (1655-1723) and Ami (1657-1724). The brothers were most likely trained by their father and worked with him. Pierre II started his own business around 1680. Jean-Pierre and Ami became partners in 1682 and were appointed painters to the Prussian court in 1686 when they moved to Berlin and started working for Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688). Among their most well-known works are Diana and Actaeon, The Judgement of Paris, The Holy Family, St. John the Baptist, The Nativity and The Adoration of the Shepherds.