126,500 HKD
Ilbery, London, No. 5421, made for the Chinese market circa 1790. Fine and rare 18K gold and enamel center-seconds watch lavishly decorated with paillons. Two-body, “Consular”, the back decorated with a flower vase of painted gold paillons on translucent imperial blue enamel background, yellow enamel frame decorated with paillons, champlevé bezels, spring-loaded gilt cuvette hinged to the movement ring. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute/seconds divisions with fifteen-minute/seconds Arabic markers. Gold “Crescent” hands. 54 mm (24’’’), frosted gilt, Lepine caliber with fixed barrel, capped to the second with diamond endstones, cylinder escapement, three-arm steel balance with flat balance spring. Signed on the mainspring cover.Diam. 63 mm. Notes An excellent and rare example of Ilbery’s early work, similar to Jaquet-Droz both in terms of decoration and in terms of its movement. The cases of his watches were decorated in Geneva by the best enamelers, such as Jean-Francois-Victor Dupont, who often signed his work, and Jean-Louis Richter, whose enamels were generally not signed. He maintained close contacts with the continental trade; a watch signed “Ilbery Paris” is known and Ilbery & Son are recorded in London and Fleurier, as well as in Canton. “Chinese” watches were often sold by pairs and therefore each pair was fitted in a specially designed box. Whenever such pairs of watches were enameled, they were always painted in a symmetrically opposed manner, l
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-06-06
