The Collection of a Connoisseur 掌上的百年風華: 鐘錶及裝飾藝術收藏
The Collection of a Connoisseur 掌上的百年風華: 鐘錶及裝飾藝術收藏
'THE TIGHTROPE WALKER' DUBOIS ET FILS | A VERY RARE AND FINE GOLD AND ENAMEL QUARTER REPEATING TWO TRAIN MUSICAL WATCH WITH TIGHTROPE WALKING AUTOMATON AND TWO MUSICIANS PLAYING MUSIC, MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET CIRCA 1810
Auction Closed
July 14, 12:35 PM GMT
Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
'THE TIGHTROPE WALKER'
DUBOIS ET FILS
A VERY RARE AND FINE GOLD AND ENAMEL QUARTER REPEATING TWO TRAIN MUSICAL WATCH WITH TIGHTROPE WALKING AUTOMATON AND TWO MUSICIANS PLAYING MUSIC, MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET
CIRCA 1810
gilded highly decoratively engraved movement, cylinder escapement, plain three-arm brass balance, barrel for going train, further barrel for music & automata, pinned cylinder plucked by a comb with 33 tines, the repetition sounding on coiled gongs, small off-set gold engine-turned dial for time, enamel roundels carrying Arabic numerals, enamel minute ring, blued steel moon hands, surrounded by a polychrome enamel painted lakeside scene, a village and mountains visible in the background, the automaton tightrope walker applied in vari-coloured gold to the foreground, two further automata figures beneath depict a man playing a lyre and a lady playing a guitar, gold case, engine-turned back and bezels, plunge pendant repeating with locking slide beside the pendant at 11 o'clock, small slide by 3 o'clock to activate the music and automata, gilt metal cuvette with two apertures with indicators for winding the going and music trains and signed DuBois et Fils
diameter 62mm
Antiquorum Geneva, The Sandberg Watch Collection, 31 March 1 April, 2001, lot 271
Musical watches incorporating an automaton tightrope walker are among the most captivating of their genre. Only a handful of similar watches are known and these include:
1 - Tightrope Walker within a Landscape signed by Grand Jean, Marseille - Sotheby & Co., The Palace Collections of Egypt, 10-20 March 1954, lot 463
2 - Tightrope Walker in a Garden with Neo-Classical Temple - A. Chapuis, E. Droz, Automata, 1958, p. 178, fig. 197
3 - Tightrope Walker in Front of a Mountain attributed to DuBois & Fils, retailed by Perrin Frères - Patek Philippe Museum, Inventory S-193
4 - Tightrope Walker in Front of a Lake attributed to DuBois & Fils, Patek Philippe Museum, Inventory S-194
5 - Tightrope Walker in Front of a Lake signed by DuBois & Fils - present lot
All of the watches listed above are styled in a similar fashion, each include the tightrope walker and two figures playing music to the foreground. A tightrope is seen strung between the two vari-colour gold trees in the foreground. When activated, the tightrope walker appears to bounce up and down on his right leg as the rope flexes realistically beneath him, his left leg kicks and he adjusts his balancing pole. The two musicians at the base of the scene accompany the tightrope walker's movements by strumming their instruments.
The DuBois family were already producing watches in the middle of the 18th century, however, the firm of DuBois & Fils was officially founded in Le Locle in 1785.