Lot 350

Thomas Savage, London

Pastorale

A rare enamel verge pocket watch

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The back cover is polychrome painted, depicting a pastoral scene in the style of François Boucher (1703-1770): A girl in shepherdess costume and a shepherd playing the bagpipes in an ideal landscape. The rim and bezel on the front is opaque dark blue enamelled and decorated with colourful scattered flowers; the inner lid with a bouquet of summer flowers.

Although there are a number of watchmakers recorded with this name, the maker of this watch is quite probably the Thomas Savage who was established in Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell, London. He was apprenticed in 1788 and free from the Clockmaker's Company in 1797. In 1802 he apprenticed Charles Edward Viner as a watchmaker.
The estate of Elizabeth Cook (1746-1835), widow of the famous Captain James Cook (1728-1779), shows that Thomas Savage was to receive in trust a sum of money amounting to 250 pounds for the children of his deceased brother William Savage: "Also I give unto Mr Thomas Savage of Red Lion Street Clerkenwell watchmaker the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds In trust for the children of his deceased brother William Savage and to be applied by him for their benefit in such manner and at such times as he shall think fit".
Whether they ever received the money is not clear, for in 1835 Thomas Savage became insolvent and was officially declared bankrupt.
Source: Brian Loomes, "Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World", London 2006, p. 687 and www.watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Savage,_Thomas_(3), as of 10/29/2021
Source: "Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World" by Brian Loomes, London 2006, p. 687.