Centuries of Time: A Private Collection

Centuries of Time: A Private Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 1325. A very rare and fine gold, enamel and pearl-set double scent flask in the form of an urn capped by twin eagles' head stoppers, with watch and visible balance made for the Chinese market Circa 1800.

Swiss

A very rare and fine gold, enamel and pearl-set double scent flask in the form of an urn capped by twin eagles' head stoppers, with watch and visible balance made for the Chinese market Circa 1800

Auction Closed

May 14, 02:23 PM GMT

Estimate

50,000 - 80,000 CHF

Lot Details

Description

Swiss


A very rare and fine gold, enamel and pearl-set double scent flask in the form of an urn capped by twin eagles' head stoppers, with watch and visible balance made for the Chinese market

Circa 1800


• Movement: cylinder escapement, visible diamond-set balance

• Dial: white enamel chapter rings for time with Arabic numerals and subsidiary seconds

• Case: gold, surmounted by two eagles' head stoppers, the heads detachable from their collars to reveal recesses for perfume, case front with glazed mandorla to the centre revealing the watch movement's four-spoked diamond-set visible balance to the centre, dials for seconds above and time below, surround of pale blue enamel heightened by gold leaves set with pearls, bordered by graduated panels of black champlevé and translucent red flinqué enamel, back with central panel painted en grisaille depicting two statues within niches, the panel hinged and opening to reveal concealed gold cuvette with three apertures for winding, hand-setting and regulation, the panel surrounded by red translucent flinqué enamel with some small repairs and paillons over an engraved ground, enamel panel opened via a pusher to the case band, gold asymmetric panel beneath chased and engraved with musical trophies, top of case back with gold and champlevé enamel urn heightened by pearls, black banded champlevé enamel and pearl-set base, palmettes chased and engraved to the case sides heightened with translucent green flinqué enamel and pearls


height 70mm, width 31mm

The Collection of Dr. Gustav Bloch, Vienna, Austria. 
By descent to Therese Bloch-Bauer.
Current Collection.

R. Chadwick, A Voyage Through Time, London: Unicorn, 2020, pp. 276-277.
Edmund Wilhelm Braun-Troppau, The Collection of Form Watches of Gustav Bloch in Vienna, 1917, p. 21, III. 18.
Elisabeth Sturm-Bednarczyk, Treasures from the Collection of Therese Bloch-Bauer, 2002.
Austrian Museum of Art & Industry, Vienna, 1917.

This sumptuously decorated double scent flask is closely related to two similar flacons formerly in the collection of King Farouk and sold, Sotheby & Co., The Palace Collections of Egypt, March 1954, lots 529 & 530. Both Farouk scent flasks are of similar size and matching shape to the present lot, and each have eagles' head stoppers and almond-shaped reserves for their dials and visible balances. Lot 529 from the Farouk auction re-appeared at Sotheby's New York, 11 June 2015 (lot 108) and photographic comparison with the present lot demonstrates the similar manner in which the heads of the eagles are executed; one can also note that while the decorative motifs applied to the flasks are different, their style of execution and use of colour is very similar. Both Farouk flasks incorporated automaton scenes beneath their dials; as there is no automaton scene to the present lot, this has allowed the maker to arrange the almond-shaped time reserve more centrally, thereby ensuring it dominates the front of the flask. 


At the beginning of the 19th century, an almost insatiable demand for unusual luxury items led to the production of a wealth of interesting and unusual objects of vertu, often destined for the Chinese market. Among the finest and most opulent of these objects were enamel decorated snuff boxes, flasks and amphora. During the first quarter of the 19th century, when this flacon was made, the artisans of Geneva were at the peak of their powers, and many of the finest objects of vertu to incorporate watches date from this period.