Portrait of Nawab Bahadur Khanji” J & Co

“Portrait of Nawab Bahadur Khanji” J & Co. , Swiss, No. 35404, enamel painting signed by Amédée Champod. Made circa 1890. Very fine 18K gold and enamel, diamond-set, hunting-cased, keyless two-train, grande and petite sonnerie quarter-repeating clockwatch, made on special order for Nawab Bahadur Khanji. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel “spade” hands. Notes A very similar watch, only differing in the inner portrait, was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, The Sandberg Watch Collection, March 31, 2001, Lot 86. That watch is published in the book of The Sandberg Collection, page 354-355. P. Amédée Champod (1834-1913) One of the most celebrated enamel painters of the end of the 19th century, Amédée Champod specialised in portraits of important personalities from the Orient as well as Europe, notably a portrait of Pope Pius IX. He also painted fine landscapes and hunting scenes for the Chinese and the Indian markets. He worked for Bovet, Vaucher, Vrard, and Courvoisier Frères, among others. His technique was outstanding and his portraits could today be compared with the most accurate color photographs. 'Dictionnaire des horlogers genevois', Osvaldo Patrizzi, Antiquorum Editions, Geneva, 1998.