715,750 CHF
“The Peony” Attributed to Piguet et Meylan, Geneva, made for the Chinese Emperor, circa 1820. Magnificent, extremely rare, large, 20K gold and enamel, pearl-set, half skeletonized, quarter-repeating peony form watch with ruby duplex escapement. Triple-body, shaped, the back realistically formed and exquisitely painted as a peony with half pearl-set petals, the stem and leaves of green translucent enamel over engine-turning set with half pearls, the band with Nile green and blue champlevé enameled decoration, also set with half pearls, blue and pink champlevé enamel and pearl-set bezel, gold hinged and glazed cuvette. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, secured by a screw, outer minute track with Arabic 15 minutes, sunk subsidiary seconds. Blued-steel “scotties” hands. Notes Provenance. From the Chinese Emperor to his descendant Xiu Yu. The pendant piece to the present watch was sold by Antiquorum Geneva in April 1996, lot 267, and is now in a private Swiss museum. A pair of very similar watches, with simple pendant, was sold by Antiquorum, Hong Kong, in May 1980, lot 194.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-11-14
