18TH/19TH CENTURY

Watch cases, such as the present example, were made in a variety of materials. As they were made to house western-style watches, they are most often associated with the China trade. An elaborately carved ivory example, dated to the 19th century, was included in the exhibition, Ivories of China and the East, Spink and Son, Ltd., London, 8-23 November 1984, no. 211. A gilt-decorated black lacquer watch case fashioned as a steeple, dated circa 1840, is illustrated by C.L. Crossman in The China Trade, Princeton, 1972, p. 133, no. 153.