96th Auction
2017/11/18
Lot 427
Julien Le Roy à Paris, Movement No. 9771, 44 mm, 64 g, circa 1760
An ornamental gold enamel verge pocket watch decorated with summer flowers finely painted on enamel, imitating Meissen porcelain
Case: 20k gold frame and enamel. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, three-arm steel balance.
The back of this delightful pocket watch is made of white enamel with an exquisitely colourful painting of roses and lilies; the inside of the back lid is decorated with a branch of red roses. The decor intended to imitate the Meissen porcelain, which was enormously at the time - with flowers painted on a white background in the same style as the porcelain painting.
This watch was part of the exhibition organised by the Netherlands Society of Dutch Enamellers on the occasion of their 20th anniversary, which took place from March 28 to November 2, 2003 in four different museums in the Netherlands. The watch is illustrated and described on page 53ff. of the exhibition catalogue "Emaille, eeuwenoud en gloednieuw" (enamel, very old and brand new).
A very similar watch is owned by the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels; it was part of the exhibition "Once upon a time, the golden era of the enamel watch (1650-1850)", which took place from May 17 to September 17, 2017. Shown on page 87 of the exhibition catalogue.
Julien Le Roy (1686 -1759) was one of the most outstanding clock- and watchmakers of his time and certainly played a decisive part in establishing the leading role French clockmaking had in the 18th century. He became a master in 1713, presented an equation clock to the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1717, and was appointed clockmaker to the king in 1739 (with his own rooms at the Louvre). Le Roy invented the adjustable bracket for the verge escapement wheel ("potence"), the repetition strike on springs instead of bells for pocket watches, and the "all-or-nothing" piece for repeating watches. His inventions and improvements were of such extreme importance that most watchmakers adopted them promptly for their own pieces. Later Le Roy was director of the Société des Arts; he and his son supplied the entries on watches and clocks in the encyclopaedia compiled by Diderot and d'Alembert.
An ornamental gold enamel verge pocket watch decorated with summer flowers finely painted on enamel, imitating Meissen porcelain
Case: 20k gold frame and enamel. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, three-arm steel balance.
The back of this delightful pocket watch is made of white enamel with an exquisitely colourful painting of roses and lilies; the inside of the back lid is decorated with a branch of red roses. The decor intended to imitate the Meissen porcelain, which was enormously at the time - with flowers painted on a white background in the same style as the porcelain painting.
This watch was part of the exhibition organised by the Netherlands Society of Dutch Enamellers on the occasion of their 20th anniversary, which took place from March 28 to November 2, 2003 in four different museums in the Netherlands. The watch is illustrated and described on page 53ff. of the exhibition catalogue "Emaille, eeuwenoud en gloednieuw" (enamel, very old and brand new).
A very similar watch is owned by the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels; it was part of the exhibition "Once upon a time, the golden era of the enamel watch (1650-1850)", which took place from May 17 to September 17, 2017. Shown on page 87 of the exhibition catalogue.
Julien Le Roy (1686 -1759) was one of the most outstanding clock- and watchmakers of his time and certainly played a decisive part in establishing the leading role French clockmaking had in the 18th century. He became a master in 1713, presented an equation clock to the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1717, and was appointed clockmaker to the king in 1739 (with his own rooms at the Louvre). Le Roy invented the adjustable bracket for the verge escapement wheel ("potence"), the repetition strike on springs instead of bells for pocket watches, and the "all-or-nothing" piece for repeating watches. His inventions and improvements were of such extreme importance that most watchmakers adopted them promptly for their own pieces. Later Le Roy was director of the Société des Arts; he and his son supplied the entries on watches and clocks in the encyclopaedia compiled by Diderot and d'Alembert.
Sold
estimated
8.000—10.000 €
Price realized
14.900 €