98th Auction
2018/11/10
Lot 360
Les Frères Huaut / Christin à Berne, 43 mm, 74 g, circa 1680
An important enamel verge pocket watch "Herod, Herodias and Salome"
Case: gold/copper frame and polychrome enamel. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement approx. 1750, chain/fusee, three-arm brass balance.
The enamel pocket watch signed "Les Frères Huaut" is decorated with a polychrome enamel painting on the back, showing King Herod, his wife Herodias and Salome; according to legend, on Herod’s birthday Salome danced before the guests and everyone was so enraptured by her dancing that the king promised to give her whatever she would ask for. Instructed by her mother, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod had John beheaded and his head was delivered to Salome on a platter.
Four lateral vignettes with lakeland castles and farmsteads are separated by yellow volute ribbons and the signature plaque. The interior is painted with a wanderer in a red coat walking along the alpine lake; in the lake are two islands with fortresses; probably after a painting by Dutch painter Paul Bril (1556-1626).
The cases painted by Les deux Frères Huaut on enamel were among the finest examples of their kind from the Geneva School and were not only highly valued when originally made, but remained as art treasures in the centuries that followed. Apparently several examples of cases enamelled by members of the Huaud family were still available at the period, for many watches with later movement by other makers, are known to have been specially made to be housed in Huaud cases.
Pierre was the founder of the Huaud dynasty and born in 1612 in Geneva as the son of French goldsmith Jean Huaud. He settled in Geneva in 1630 and three of his 11 children became famous enamelists like their father: Pierre II (1647-1698), Jean-Pierre (1655-1723) and Ami (1657-1724). The brothers were most likely trained by their father and worked with him; Pierre II started his own business around 1680. Jean-Pierre and Ami became partners in 1682 and were appointed painters to the Prussian court in 1686, when they moved to Berlin and started working for Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688).
Among their most well-known works are: Diana and Actaeon, The Judgement of Paris, The Holy Family, St. John the Baptist, The Nativity, The Adoration of the Shepherds.
An important enamel verge pocket watch "Herod, Herodias and Salome"
Case: gold/copper frame and polychrome enamel. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement approx. 1750, chain/fusee, three-arm brass balance.
The enamel pocket watch signed "Les Frères Huaut" is decorated with a polychrome enamel painting on the back, showing King Herod, his wife Herodias and Salome; according to legend, on Herod’s birthday Salome danced before the guests and everyone was so enraptured by her dancing that the king promised to give her whatever she would ask for. Instructed by her mother, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod had John beheaded and his head was delivered to Salome on a platter.
Four lateral vignettes with lakeland castles and farmsteads are separated by yellow volute ribbons and the signature plaque. The interior is painted with a wanderer in a red coat walking along the alpine lake; in the lake are two islands with fortresses; probably after a painting by Dutch painter Paul Bril (1556-1626).
The cases painted by Les deux Frères Huaut on enamel were among the finest examples of their kind from the Geneva School and were not only highly valued when originally made, but remained as art treasures in the centuries that followed. Apparently several examples of cases enamelled by members of the Huaud family were still available at the period, for many watches with later movement by other makers, are known to have been specially made to be housed in Huaud cases.
Pierre was the founder of the Huaud dynasty and born in 1612 in Geneva as the son of French goldsmith Jean Huaud. He settled in Geneva in 1630 and three of his 11 children became famous enamelists like their father: Pierre II (1647-1698), Jean-Pierre (1655-1723) and Ami (1657-1724). The brothers were most likely trained by their father and worked with him; Pierre II started his own business around 1680. Jean-Pierre and Ami became partners in 1682 and were appointed painters to the Prussian court in 1686, when they moved to Berlin and started working for Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688).
Among their most well-known works are: Diana and Actaeon, The Judgement of Paris, The Holy Family, St. John the Baptist, The Nativity, The Adoration of the Shepherds.
estimated
25.000—50.000 €
Price realized
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