16,100 CHF
Windmills, London, No. 8708, hallmarked 1729-30.Very fine and rare 22K gold repoussé pair-cased watch. Outer: two-body, repoussée with a scene depicting Susanna and the Elders, band repoussé with stylized foliage and musical instruments. Inner: two-body, "bassine", polished. Gold, champlevé radial Roman numerals, outer minute ring with five-minute Arabic markers on polished oval cartouches, center chased with a shield. Blued steel "beetle and poker" hands. 38 mm, gilt full plate with Egyptian pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain brass balance with flat balance spring, singlefooted cock with small streamers, pierced and engraved with symmetrical stylized foliage, mask in the neck, rack and pinion regulator with silver plate.Signed on dial and movement.Diam. 52 mm. Notes Susanna, the wife of a prosperous merchant, was surprised by two old men while taking a bath. They threatened that unless she gave herself to both of them, they would publicly swear that they saw her in an act of adultery for which the penalty was death. Susanna refused and cried for help. The old men carried out their threat and Susanna was sentenced to death. The next day, Daniel, one of the four major prophets, decided to interrogate the two witnesses separately and obtained conflicting depostions proving Susanna's innocence. The old men were put to death. Susanna (meaning "lily" in Hebrew), appears in the earliest Christian as well as Jewish art, as a symbol of purity.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2001-11-11
