Lot 76

Ottoman Empire, 56 x 45 mm, 105 g, circa 1670
A rare, oval, single-handed pendant watch for the Ottoman Empire
Case: silver, niello decorated arabesques, turning ball-shaped pendant. Dial: brass, firegilt, engraved arabesques, applied chapter ring with engraved Ottoman numerals and applied hour knobs made of pearls, precision-cut single gilt brass hand. Movm.: oval full plate movement with applied oval silver disc with niello foliate design, Ottoman signature: "Master, work of `amal-i Y.rir.t", chain/large fusee, verge escapement, pierced pillars decorated with pearls, plain two-arm iron balance without balance spring, fine florally engraved, pierced balance cock.
From around 1600 several watchmakers from Blois and Geneva settled in Constantinople and worked for the Ottoman court. They produced lavishly decorated watches, some of which can be seen in museums today.
The arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. It usually consists of a single design which can be 'tiled' or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired. Within the very wide range of Eurasian decorative art that includes motifs matching this basic definition the term "arabesque" is used consistently as a technical term by art historians to describe only elements of the decoration found in two phases: Islamic art from about the 9th century onwards, and European decorative art from the Renaissance onwards.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabesque_%28Islamic_art%29, as of 01/16/2015
We would like to thank Professor Claus Peter Haase of the Department for Art History, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of History and Cultural Studies, Museum for Islamic Art, for providing the translation of the inscription.

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