290,500 CHF
“Barking Dog with Musical Movement” I. D. Piguet & P. Meylan, Geneve, No. 303, the case by Frères Oltramare. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1820. Extremely fine, equally rare and very unusual, 18K gold quarter-repeating "barking dog" automaton watch with the exceptionally rare feature of three automata and musical movement playing music on the hour or at will. Eccentric, white enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, set at the top of a finely painted on enamel country scene, the lower half with applied varicolored gold automaton scene of a dog barking at a cat on a fence, the dog moving its head and the cat moving its tail with each movement of the bellows, a seated lady playing the guitar moves her arm, the whole on applied gold grass with foliage. Blued steel "lozenge" hands. Notes The present watch not only repeats the hours and quarters with the sound of a barking dog, the rarest form of repeating, but is also musical and with two extra automata. There are only about 20 of these watches (without music or extra automata) known, of which the majority are after Jean-Baptiste Oudry's painting "Dog Attacked by a Swan" (see lot 48). The present watch with the more realistic scene of a dog barking at a cat, is extremely rare and with the addition of the two extra automata and music is probably unique. The inscription scratched on the dial plate: “fait par I. D. Piguet et Philippe Meylan à Genève,” is also present in the barking dog watches Nos. 19, 28,
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2006-11-12
