Lot 424

Jaquet Droz zugeschr./attr. to

In der Schmiede / The Blacksmith's shop

A collection of 6 miniature table clocks
A rare verge pocket watch "à quatre couleurs" with quarter repeater, two automatons and two jacquemarts, fitted into a historicism stand frame and newly used as strut clock - with original velvet-lined morocco case

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When the repeater is released, the assistant lights the fire in the forge and the blacksmith hammers a weapon on the anvil. Two putti on a wall arching over the scene are seen striking a bell – this was a popular motif in the 1800s.

Pierre Jaquet-Droz was born the son of a peasant and clockmaker in 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland; he died 1790 in Biel. Jaquet Droz attended the primary school in his native town and later the humanistic secondary school in Basel, where he also studied afterwards. In 1740 Jaquet Droz turned to clockmaking – which at the time had its stronghold in Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 1758 he travelled to Spain to sell pendulum clocks to King Ferdinand VI, two of which had automatic gears. In 1759 Jaquet Droz began setting up an international company for the production of high quality timepieces in La Chaux-de-Fonds. His son Henri-Louis (1752-1791) joined the business as a watchmaker. The company had branches in London, Paris and Basel. In 1774 the Jaquet-Droz company presented three androids to the public that were a striking success. They are Jaquet Droz’ most famous works of art and can be seen, still functioning, in Neuchâtel.