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Lot Essay
Returning to the market after almost two decades in one of the world's great watch collections and preserved in wonderful condition throughout, this museum-worthy masterpiece is of breathtaking quality, even the plain white dial is enamelled upon a solid gold base. The exceptional painted enamel portrait on the back of the case is in the manner of George Michael Moser, whose enamels rank among the very best of all British enamel work of the 18th century.
The original painting ‘Hope Nursing Love’ was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1769. The sitter was an aspiring young actress called Miss Morris. Reynolds’ inspiration for Hope’s pose may have been inspired by Renaissance depictions of Leda and the Swan, although there is almost certainly a deliberate reference to the iconography of the Madonna and Child. The picture was engraved in 1771 by Edward Fisher. Its overt sentimentality proved to be very appealing and in 1808 it was copied in enamel by Henry Bone for the future King George IV.
Joshua Reynold's Hope Nursing Love (Miss Morris as Hope Nursing Cupid) is in the collection of the Plymough City Council and exhibited at Port Eliot, Port Eliot Estate Office, St Germans, Saltash, Cornwall.
George Michael Moser (1706-1783) was an exceptionally versatile artist. He was probably the leading chaser and enameller of his day, as well as being skilled in drawing. Sir Joshua Reynolds gave a eulogy at his funeral, attended 'by all the capital artists' (Gentleman's Magazine, LIII, p.180) as the 'Father of the present race of Artists....possessed of a universal knowledge of all branches of painting and of sculpture'.
He was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in 1706 and by 1726 seems to have been in London where he worked first as a chaser of furniture mounts. By 1742 he was described by George Vertue as 'Mr Moser of Geneva Chaser (who) has the reputation of the best workman in that way of chasing Gold, smallworks for watches, boxes. Trinkletts etc'. Again in 1745 Vertue also wrote of his skill in life drawing. A fine design for a candlestick signed 'G. M. Moser iv. & delt', attests to his skill as a draughtsman (Exhibition Catalogue, Rococo, Art and design in Hogarth's England, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983, No.E14).
As early as the 1730s, Moser together with Haidt, another chaser, had started up a small life drawing school, and later he joined the St. Martin's Lane Academy. He enjoyed both the 3rd Earl of Bute's patronage and that of The Royal Family to whom he was drawing Master. He was a founding member of The Incorporated Society of Artists and was elected as the first Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768.
It has been suggested that Moser turned from chasing to enamelling in about 1760, since he was described in 1755 solely as a chaser, while eight years later he was listed as a 'Chaser and Painter in Enamels'.
Thomas Mudge (1715-1794) was apprenticed in 1730 to the great clockmaker George Graham. He succeeded Graham in 1750, going into partnership with another of Graham's apprentices, William Dutton (born c.1720, apprenticed 1738) in 1750 or 1755. In 1771 Mudge moved to Plymouth to work on the development of the marine chronometer. Dutton succeeded to the business in 1794.
The original painting ‘Hope Nursing Love’ was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1769. The sitter was an aspiring young actress called Miss Morris. Reynolds’ inspiration for Hope’s pose may have been inspired by Renaissance depictions of Leda and the Swan, although there is almost certainly a deliberate reference to the iconography of the Madonna and Child. The picture was engraved in 1771 by Edward Fisher. Its overt sentimentality proved to be very appealing and in 1808 it was copied in enamel by Henry Bone for the future King George IV.
Joshua Reynold's Hope Nursing Love (Miss Morris as Hope Nursing Cupid) is in the collection of the Plymough City Council and exhibited at Port Eliot, Port Eliot Estate Office, St Germans, Saltash, Cornwall.
George Michael Moser (1706-1783) was an exceptionally versatile artist. He was probably the leading chaser and enameller of his day, as well as being skilled in drawing. Sir Joshua Reynolds gave a eulogy at his funeral, attended 'by all the capital artists' (Gentleman's Magazine, LIII, p.180) as the 'Father of the present race of Artists....possessed of a universal knowledge of all branches of painting and of sculpture'.
He was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in 1706 and by 1726 seems to have been in London where he worked first as a chaser of furniture mounts. By 1742 he was described by George Vertue as 'Mr Moser of Geneva Chaser (who) has the reputation of the best workman in that way of chasing Gold, smallworks for watches, boxes. Trinkletts etc'. Again in 1745 Vertue also wrote of his skill in life drawing. A fine design for a candlestick signed 'G. M. Moser iv. & delt', attests to his skill as a draughtsman (Exhibition Catalogue, Rococo, Art and design in Hogarth's England, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983, No.E14).
As early as the 1730s, Moser together with Haidt, another chaser, had started up a small life drawing school, and later he joined the St. Martin's Lane Academy. He enjoyed both the 3rd Earl of Bute's patronage and that of The Royal Family to whom he was drawing Master. He was a founding member of The Incorporated Society of Artists and was elected as the first Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768.
It has been suggested that Moser turned from chasing to enamelling in about 1760, since he was described in 1755 solely as a chaser, while eight years later he was listed as a 'Chaser and Painter in Enamels'.
Thomas Mudge (1715-1794) was apprenticed in 1730 to the great clockmaker George Graham. He succeeded Graham in 1750, going into partnership with another of Graham's apprentices, William Dutton (born c.1720, apprenticed 1738) in 1750 or 1755. In 1771 Mudge moved to Plymouth to work on the development of the marine chronometer. Dutton succeeded to the business in 1794.