Lot 498

Gottfried Heins Klein, Copenhagen, Movement No. 146, 47 mm, 89 g, circa 1760
A rare Danish pair-cased verge pocket watch with "repoussé" decoration "Chryses begging for his daughter from Agamemnon" - with matching chatelaine
Case: outer case - gold, Repoussé in high relief depicting a classical scene from Homer's Iliad, engraved and chased volutes and scrollwork, large lateral hinge. Inner case - gold, polished. Matching, gilt chatelaine with "repoussé" decoration, length 120 mm. Dial: gold, Champlevé style, inlaid radial Roman hours, signed, blued "Poker & Beetle" hands. Movm.: full plate movement, keywind, firegilt, signed, screwed on floral decorations, chain/fusee, square baluster pillars, three-arm steel balance, fine florally engraved and pierced balance cock with mascaron.
Chryses
During the Trojan War, Agamemnon took Chryses' daughter Chryseis as a war prize and when Chryses attempted to ransom her, refused to return her. Chryses prayed to Apollo, and he, in order to defend the honor of his priest, sent a plague sweeping through the Greek armies, and Agamemnon was forced to give Chryseis back in order to end it. The significance of Agamemnon's actions lies not in his kidnapping Chryseis (such abductions were commonplace in ancient Greece), but in his refusal to release her upon her father's request.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chryses, as of 09/15/2015.

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