Lot 443

Swiss, 51 mm, 158 g, circa 1900
A remarkable, very fine and heavy quarter repeating hunting case pocket watch with day, date and month indicator, moon phase, moon age and three enamel portraits of Bolivian Princess de la Glorieta, Clotilde Urioste de Argandoña (1857-1933)
Case: 18k gold, enamel. Dial: enamel. Movm.: bridge movement, 2 hammers / 2 gongs, gold screw compensation balance.
This pocket watch of superior quality with a full calendar is decorated with three enamel half portraits of the young Clotilde Urioste de Argandoña painted inside the lids and on the dome. The young princess presents herself in three different period costumes - in a high-necked garment, a low-cut dress, and an outfit with a hat.
The outer case is decorated with engine-turned design and shows the intricately engraved and partly enamelled initials "FA" of Clotilde’s husband Don Francisco Argandoña on the front lid.
The prince and his wife were unfortunately unable to have children of their own, which gave them the idea to create an orphanage. The build the castle of La Glorieta in the vicinity of Sucre to give a home to orphans and eventually adopted 60 children.
For their charitable efforts Doña Clotilde Urioste de Argandoña and Don Fransciso de Argandoña were declared Prince and Princess of La Glorieta by Pope Leon XIII in 1898, thus becoming the only royals in the history of Bolivia.