John Stileman

John Stileman, Londini, circa 1630. Extremely fine and rare small 20 ct. gold single-hand enamel and rock-crystal pendant watch. Two-body, the back and front in faceted rock crystal with gold bezels decorated with translucent red and green and white enamel, pendant and button finial similarly enamelled, loose ring. Gilded, oval, radial Roman chapter ring engraved with leaf decoration. Blued-steel hand. 16.3 x 20 mm, oval, gilt brass full plate, turned vase pillars, fusee and gut-line for the going train, verge escapement, two-arm steel circular foliot, elongated pinned cock asymmetrically pierced with floral engrving, ratchet wheel and click set-up.Signed on the movement.Dim. 39 x 22 mm. Published in the Sandberg book, pages 52-53. Notes There are relatively few surviving English watches that we can date to the first half of the seventeenth century. Of these, one sees only a handful in gold and enamel. Examining the inventories of property belonging to Queen Elizabeth I, one sees that she was in possession of a fair number of both small clocks and watches mounted in gold with enamel and even precious stones. England was not a major centre for either horology or enamelling at the time. The fact that so very few pieces have survivd may well be explained by the political circumstances. England was ravaged by civil war during the reign of Charles I. It is well known that he 'cashed in' many of the Crown's possessions, particularly jewels and plate, to pay for campaigns. F Read more…