Lot Essay
A similar watch is illustrated in Le Monde des Automates by Chapuis & Gélis, Vol. II, p. 71, pl. 357.
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UNSIGNED, CIRCA 1815
Details
Anon. A very fine and unusual 18K gold jump hour automaton watch
Unsigned, circa 1815
With gilt-finished full plate verge movement, engraved and pierced balance cock, chain fusée, gilt cuvette, the dial decorated with engraved foliage decoration and two butterflies flanking the bust of Cleopatra with fan-shaped aperture for the jumping hours and minutes in the headdress, an automaton depicting a parade of gold cherubs, one seated in a chariot, followed by one riding a goat led by Mercury and a dove, the third holding a shield with a heart, all over a polychrome painted riverside scene visible through a fan-shaped aperture, an engraved scene depicting Venus and a cherub centred by a globe, in circular case with coin-edged rims and band, the reverse with engraved sunbeam design, case stamped LC and numbered 7066
56 mm. diam.
Unsigned, circa 1815
With gilt-finished full plate verge movement, engraved and pierced balance cock, chain fusée, gilt cuvette, the dial decorated with engraved foliage decoration and two butterflies flanking the bust of Cleopatra with fan-shaped aperture for the jumping hours and minutes in the headdress, an automaton depicting a parade of gold cherubs, one seated in a chariot, followed by one riding a goat led by Mercury and a dove, the third holding a shield with a heart, all over a polychrome painted riverside scene visible through a fan-shaped aperture, an engraved scene depicting Venus and a cherub centred by a globe, in circular case with coin-edged rims and band, the reverse with engraved sunbeam design, case stamped LC and numbered 7066
56 mm. diam.
Provenance
Atwood Collection