264,000 HKD
The Flower Girls - Mirror Image Pair Bovet, Fleurier, No. 504 & 508. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1835. Very fine and rare, mirror-image pair of gilt-metal, painted on enamel and pearl-set center-seconds pocket watches with two keys and a fitted tortoiseshell veneered box. Three-body, the bezels, pendant and bow decorated with split-pearls, the back panels painted with opposing scenes of a lady and child gathering flowers in a woodland glade, translucent royal blue guilloche ground. Hinged and sprung engraved cuvette hinged to the movement ring. White enamel, convex with radial narrow Roman numerals, outer minutes/seconds divisions, Arabic quarter hour numerals. Gold ovoid hands. Identical gilt movements, Chinese caliber with fully foliate engraved plate and bridges, standing barrel, jeweled to the center, lateral lever escapement, three-arm monometallic balance with peripheral weights and screws, flat balance spring and index regulator. Movements signed. Diam. 58 mm. Notes Provenance Christie’s, Geneva, May 20, 1992, Lot 360. Bovet A watchmaking dynasty founded by Edouard, Frédéric, Alphonse, Gustave, Charles-Henri, and Caroline Bovet, of Fleurier. In 1822, a Bovet partnership was founded for the Chinese watch trade in Canton. In 1840, Bovet Frères et Cie was established in Fleurier, and in 1864, the Bovet watch production was sold to Bovet’s manufacturing inspectors in Fleurier, Jules Jéquier and Ernest Bobillier, soon joined by Ami Leuba. In 1888, Bovet Frères
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2009-06-27
