A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte B/Dresden, Movement No. 26976, Case No. 26976, 38 mm, 49 g, circa 1888

A lady's very fine, extremely rare Glashuette gold enamel hunting case pocket watch with case decoration according to Prof. Carl Ludwig Graff - manufactured in quality 1A; a gift to Juliana Isabel Spangenberg (1853-1933) on the occasion of her wedding with Lüder Luis Linck
Case: 18k pink gold, elaborately florally engraved and polychrome enamelled with Renaissance motives, according to a layout by Prof. Graff; the front lid decorated with a centred enamel medallion depicting a monogram "JIS" (Juliana Isabel Spangenberg), the back lid with a centred enamel plaque depicting Minerva, the goddess of crafts, poetry and wisdom; gold dome. Dial: enamel, Arabic numerals, auxiliary seconds, gold Louis XV hands. Movm.: 3/4 plate movement, frosted, gilt, screwed gold chatons, gold screw compensation balance, engraved balance cock, gold lever and escape wheel, chatoned diamond endstone on balance.

Prof. Karl Ludwig Theodor Graff
Prof. Karl Ludwig Theodor Graff, who was appointed director of the Institute of Applied Arts in Dresden (Dresdner Kunstgewerbeschule) in 1875, to create designs in this vein. From the 1880s onwards, more and more ostentatious decorations were created at Lange & Soehne company, where the medallion showed the image of the ancient Roman goddess Minerva, who had been worshipped as goddess of crafts, poetry and wisdom. Professor Graff then copyrighted his design which had won first prize in the Institute of Applied Arts' 1890 competition for the design and decoration of pocket watch cases.