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Lot Essay
The present timepiece is a fine example of an automaton watch by the celebrated Henry Capt in Geneva around 1820, featuring a repeating mechanism, a musical pin barrel and a scene with two automatons: a seated lady playing the harp while a seated gentleman is painting her portrait, a rather unusual depiction. The vari-coloured gold scene impresses by the delicately carved details, enhanced by the finely painted enamel village view, demonstrating the celebrated art of enamel miniatures originating from Geneva in the early 19th century.
Henry-Daniel Capt (born 1773)
Henry-Daniel or Henri Capt, together with Isaac Piguet and Philippe Meylan, was one of the leading manufacturers of musical automata at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. He specialized in the production of complicated watches, musical and automaton timepieces and was amongst the first manufacturers in Geneva to use a mechanical mechanism with pinned cylinder and tuned-tooth comb. Around 1789 Capt settled in Geneva and worked for several renowned companies such as Jaquet-Droz, Godet, Leschot and his brother-in-law Isaac Daniel Piguet.
When Piguet left to enter a partnership with Philippe-Samuel Meylan in 1811, Henry Capt continued to work first on his own, later with his son Charles Henry, until around 1830, when he joined forces with Aubert and son, Place Bel-Air in Geneva.
Henry-Daniel Capt (born 1773)
Henry-Daniel or Henri Capt, together with Isaac Piguet and Philippe Meylan, was one of the leading manufacturers of musical automata at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. He specialized in the production of complicated watches, musical and automaton timepieces and was amongst the first manufacturers in Geneva to use a mechanical mechanism with pinned cylinder and tuned-tooth comb. Around 1789 Capt settled in Geneva and worked for several renowned companies such as Jaquet-Droz, Godet, Leschot and his brother-in-law Isaac Daniel Piguet.
When Piguet left to enter a partnership with Philippe-Samuel Meylan in 1811, Henry Capt continued to work first on his own, later with his son Charles Henry, until around 1830, when he joined forces with Aubert and son, Place Bel-Air in Geneva.