165,200 HKD
“Palemon & Lavinia” Will(ia)m Story, London, No. 11320. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1770. Very fine and very rare, large, gilt metal, painted on enamel and paste-set, pair-cased coach and table watch with center seconds and stop-feature. Outer: two-body, "bassine", box hinged, the bezel foliate-engraved and set with alternating pairs of white and red paste stones, back with an oval reserve decorated with a painted on enamel scene of Palemon & Lavinia, translucent guilloché red enamel and white enamel “pearl” border, outer ring borders of white and green enamel and white and red pastes. Inner: gilt, “bassine”, polished. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minutes and seconds divisions, Arabic 15 minute/seconds numerals. Gold “beetle & poker” hour and minute hands, blued steel center seconds hand. Notes This painting illustrates a story from James Thomson’s popular poems "The Seasons" dating from 1726–30. The rural lovers Palemon and Lavinia appear in Thomson’s "Autumn"; they are adapted from the Biblical story of Ruth and Boaz. Palemon, a gentleman, professes his love for the country girl Lavinia, in a harvest-time setting. Thomson’s sentimental fantasy of rural romance was particularly attractive to a generation brought up on the ideals of Sensibility. The poem that accompanies this scene is as follows: And are thou then Acastos' dear remains? She whom my restless Gratitude has sought// So long in vain, O Heav'ns! the very frame The soften'd Image
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-06-02
