Lot 81

Attributed to John Rich, London/Geneva, Case No. 8319, 57 mm, 118 g, circa 1810
An important and unique, Empire-style gold and enamel pocket watch of museum quality, produced for the Chinese market; set with split pearls and decorated with a multi-colour gold automaton scene of a cooperage with an exquisite miniature enamel painting of a river landscape in the background. The typical design of the movement and the English designations on the central lid indicate that this automaton was made by John Rich – with original gold enamel key and case, presumably from the time of the Collection Gustave Loup
Case: 20k gold, the back cover with translucent cobalt blue enamelling over an engine-turned ground, the bezels on the front and back side set with half-pearls, pin at 6 o'clock for for activating the automaton, firegilt middle lid. Dial: four colour gold automaton scene and polychrome enamelled landscape; peripheral enamel hour dial with hand-painted Arabic numerals, framed by a translucid red so-called "pourpre de cassis" enamel border and a floral champlevé outer rim. Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, firegilt, engraved, 2 florally engraved barrels, cylinder escapement, three-arm brass balance.
The cooperage is depicted in multi-colour gold against the enamel painting in the background. The motif shows a man working the hoops on the left, the cooper planing the staves in the centre and a barrel being toasted on the right. When the automaton is activated, the workers start their tasks and the dolphin fountain far on the right spouts water.
Around 1780, highly skilled craftsmen in Geneva began producing automatons for the Eastern market. From 1780 to 1850, a great variety of these masterpieces of engineering and artistic skills were created by the most renowned watchmakers such as John Rich in England. The remarkable work of the enamel artists in Geneva as well as the long-standing commercial relationship between Geneva and the Eastern market must have been one of the reasons that convinced John Rich, the famous London maker of timepieces and automatons, to establish a branch in Geneva together with his temporary partner Decombaz.
The automaton in this timepiece possesses the magnificent and daunting level of artistic skill and craftsmanship that is impossible to emulate today.
The gold work:
The different hues of gold of the figures were achieved by cutting individual, wafer-thin gold platelets and then welding them together and engraving them. Afterwards the figures were fixed upon silver base plates. The split pearls on the bezels are set in gold and held by four prongs.
The enamel work:
The base plate of the enamel miniature is made of gold and framed by a white enamel border with engraved Champlevé ornamentation.
The subtle nuances of the miniature painting had to be applied in a step by step process, where the colours with a higher melting point are fired first at 700 to 800 degrees. At the end of the process a clear layer is burned onto the surface. In addition to the fine colouring work it is this clear layer that is a particular quality attribute of this "golden era" of enamel art in Geneva between 1780 and 1840.
The guilloche work:
This extremely sophisticated and lavish guilloche pattern was carried out with a geometric lathe, which was operated manually and had to be set up anew for each individual pattern.
Provenance:
This timepiece is illustrated in Alfred Chapuis’ book "Le Monde des Automates"; Chapuis attributes it to the Collection Gustave Loup.
Gustave Loup (1876-1961) lived and worked in China for many years and after 1900 he was able to acquire a number of timepieces from various sources, among them the imperial collection in the summer palace in Jehol, which is Chengde today. In his time, Loup owned by far the largest and most valuable collection of timepieces that were produced for the Chinese market.
Edgar Mannheimer (1925-1993) was a fascinating and charismatic personality – the proprietor of the company "Uto Auktionen" was the most important retailer of timepieces of his time. He was in contact with all major collectors, such as the owners of some of the objects from the former Loup collection – this is why in the 1970s timepieces of this provenance regularly appeared at Uto auctions in Zurich.
This automaton, which is of such particular, outstanding provenance has not been on the market for over 40 years!
John Rich was certainly a fascinating man. Some of his artworks are the most complicated automata such as the so-called "The Magician Box", or the "Sandoz Scent Bottle". Alfred Chapuis and Edmond Droz, both authorities on automata, have described the Magician as "the most remarkable snuffbox known to the authors". Some boxes that have been examined or restored are signed "John Rich, London" or "John Rich, London & Genève", whereas some others which are mechanically identical bear no signature at all.
Source: Osvaldo Patrizzi "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Genevois", Geneva 1998, p. 342.
Literature:
- Alfred Chapuis and Edward Gelis, "Le Monde des automates", Vol. II, 1928, p. 54, Ill. 334
- "Exposition Gustave Loup", Musée d 'art et dhistoire de Genève, 1914
- Ian White "The Majesty of the Chinese Market Watch", AHS, 2019

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