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Lot Essay
With three gilt brass crank keys, the typical style of keys used in the 17th and early 18th centuries.
Consigned by a European Nobleman, the present timepiece has been in the same family for several generations and impresses with its very good, original overall condition despite its nearly 400 years of age.
When first commercialized in the 16th century, at a time when grandeur and pomp were a must among nobility, watches were greeted with enormous enthusiasm. The inaccuracy of the early movements was equalised by the opulence of the case decoration, adapted to the taste of the period. The cases were equipped with a ring from which they could be hung from a ribbon or a chain and worn around the neck, demonstrating the wearer's wealth and status, treasures for ceremonial occasions.
In the course of the 16th century, watches were fitted with striking mechanisms to chime the hours or an alarm. The piercing of the cases for an improved resonating of the gong's sound was often the pretext for immensely refined decoration. Made of silver or a silver-brass alloy, the cases were embellished by the best engravers of the Renaissance, scenes taken from celebrated artists such as Etienne Delaune. Delaune (c. 1519-1583) provided many designs for the much-admired decorative arts of France under King Henry II and made hundreds of ornamental drawings for jewellery, watch and pictorial engravings, noteworthy for their decorative nature and their technical precision despite their often small size.
Richly ornamented with engraved battle scenes after Delaune and fitted with an en passant hour striking mechanism, the present watch is a wonderful example of a highly decorative Renaissance timepiece made in Blois. Blois, the capital of the French district Loir-et-Cher, was the favoured residence of the Kings of France during the 16th and 17th centuries and also the residence of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon's wife, during the Regency of 1814.
This centralization of French Kings for more than a century resulted in a significant concentration of artists and specialized craftsmen in the city and its surroundings. Originating from Paris as well as other French cities, these artisans contributed enormously to Blois' rich artistic and cultural life.
Salomon Chesnon, one of Blois' most celebrated watchmakers of the period, is recorded in Thibaud Fourrier's Dictionnaire des Horlogers de Blois, p. 15, as born in Blois in 1572, master watchmaker as of 1598, passed away before 1634. His son Salomon II (1614-1683) became master watchmaker before 1639.
Salomon I sold a striking table clock to Marie de Médicis, watches signed by Salomon Chesnon father and son were in the collections of Blot-Garnier, Mallet, Miller, Fränkel and Gélis (see Baillie's Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World, p. 57, and Tardy's Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, p. 127, black and white illustration of an oval watch on p. 128).
An oval silver and brass watch signed Salomon Chesnon/A Blois with engraved decoration after Etienne Delaune is in the collections of the Louvre in Paris, prominently described and illustrated in Les montres et horloges de table du musée du Louvre, Tome II, p. 101, pl. 84.
Consigned by a European Nobleman, the present timepiece has been in the same family for several generations and impresses with its very good, original overall condition despite its nearly 400 years of age.
When first commercialized in the 16th century, at a time when grandeur and pomp were a must among nobility, watches were greeted with enormous enthusiasm. The inaccuracy of the early movements was equalised by the opulence of the case decoration, adapted to the taste of the period. The cases were equipped with a ring from which they could be hung from a ribbon or a chain and worn around the neck, demonstrating the wearer's wealth and status, treasures for ceremonial occasions.
In the course of the 16th century, watches were fitted with striking mechanisms to chime the hours or an alarm. The piercing of the cases for an improved resonating of the gong's sound was often the pretext for immensely refined decoration. Made of silver or a silver-brass alloy, the cases were embellished by the best engravers of the Renaissance, scenes taken from celebrated artists such as Etienne Delaune. Delaune (c. 1519-1583) provided many designs for the much-admired decorative arts of France under King Henry II and made hundreds of ornamental drawings for jewellery, watch and pictorial engravings, noteworthy for their decorative nature and their technical precision despite their often small size.
Richly ornamented with engraved battle scenes after Delaune and fitted with an en passant hour striking mechanism, the present watch is a wonderful example of a highly decorative Renaissance timepiece made in Blois. Blois, the capital of the French district Loir-et-Cher, was the favoured residence of the Kings of France during the 16th and 17th centuries and also the residence of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon's wife, during the Regency of 1814.
This centralization of French Kings for more than a century resulted in a significant concentration of artists and specialized craftsmen in the city and its surroundings. Originating from Paris as well as other French cities, these artisans contributed enormously to Blois' rich artistic and cultural life.
Salomon Chesnon, one of Blois' most celebrated watchmakers of the period, is recorded in Thibaud Fourrier's Dictionnaire des Horlogers de Blois, p. 15, as born in Blois in 1572, master watchmaker as of 1598, passed away before 1634. His son Salomon II (1614-1683) became master watchmaker before 1639.
Salomon I sold a striking table clock to Marie de Médicis, watches signed by Salomon Chesnon father and son were in the collections of Blot-Garnier, Mallet, Miller, Fränkel and Gélis (see Baillie's Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World, p. 57, and Tardy's Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, p. 127, black and white illustration of an oval watch on p. 128).
An oval silver and brass watch signed Salomon Chesnon/A Blois with engraved decoration after Etienne Delaune is in the collections of the Louvre in Paris, prominently described and illustrated in Les montres et horloges de table du musée du Louvre, Tome II, p. 101, pl. 84.