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拍品专文
This exquisite precious object still possesses the power to enchant more than 200 years after it was made, incredibly rare, this automaton vinaigrette table watch is both a superb jewel and a mechanical marvel and would make a worthy addition to even the most exalted collection. Furthermore, its identical ‘twin’ is in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
Incorporating a musical movement, watch and automata, it is an object of great beauty and highly ingenious design. Attributable stylistically to Piguet & Capt, the most important Geneva makers of complicated small automata and watches in the early 19th century, the present musical automaton movement is impressively small, almost miniaturized, a feat that required exceptional skill to achieve.
The identical "twin" of the present example is on permanent exhibition at the prestigious Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, see illustration taken from Patek Philippe Museum, The Emergence of the Portable Watch, Vol. IV, p. 93, Inv. S-370.
Another larger example is described and illustrated in: ‘Le Monde des Automates, A. Chapuis & E. Gelis, p. 50, fig. 320, and in Patek Philippe Museum, The Emergence of the Portable Watch, Vol. IV, p. 92, Inv. S-169.
Vinaigrettes are small, often precious boxes that were used in the pocket or for travel containing a perfume soaked sponge for masking the many unpleasant odours that could be encountered on the owner’s journey. A pierced decorative grille covered the sponge to allow the scent to escape.
During the 19th century, vinaigrettes were a fashionable indication of social ranking, as those who were able to afford perfume or concern themselves with their outward appearance at all were among the elite. Standards of cleanliness were poor, even among the upper classes, but the ability to afford perfume distinguished them from the lower classes. A vinaigrette box of the quality of the present lot with built-in automaton, music and a watch would have been the ultimate accessory that could only have been afforded by the very rich, royalty and nobility. The carrying of perfume was also thought to offer protection from disease, it was believed that there was an association between illness and bad smells. Perfume was such an exotic extravagance that for an individual to be able to both afford perfume and then contain it within superb decorative vinaigrette was to have reached the pinnacle of social distinction and provided an active display of grandeur and wealth.
Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775-1841) and Henry Capt (1773-1841), were important watchmakers, goldsmiths and jewellers who worked in partnership from 1802-1811 and specialized in musical and automaton watches. Capt, Piguet's brother-in-law, was one of the first in Geneva to use the pinned cylinder and tuned-tooth comb musical mechanism.
Incorporating a musical movement, watch and automata, it is an object of great beauty and highly ingenious design. Attributable stylistically to Piguet & Capt, the most important Geneva makers of complicated small automata and watches in the early 19th century, the present musical automaton movement is impressively small, almost miniaturized, a feat that required exceptional skill to achieve.
The identical "twin" of the present example is on permanent exhibition at the prestigious Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, see illustration taken from Patek Philippe Museum, The Emergence of the Portable Watch, Vol. IV, p. 93, Inv. S-370.
Another larger example is described and illustrated in: ‘Le Monde des Automates, A. Chapuis & E. Gelis, p. 50, fig. 320, and in Patek Philippe Museum, The Emergence of the Portable Watch, Vol. IV, p. 92, Inv. S-169.
Vinaigrettes are small, often precious boxes that were used in the pocket or for travel containing a perfume soaked sponge for masking the many unpleasant odours that could be encountered on the owner’s journey. A pierced decorative grille covered the sponge to allow the scent to escape.
During the 19th century, vinaigrettes were a fashionable indication of social ranking, as those who were able to afford perfume or concern themselves with their outward appearance at all were among the elite. Standards of cleanliness were poor, even among the upper classes, but the ability to afford perfume distinguished them from the lower classes. A vinaigrette box of the quality of the present lot with built-in automaton, music and a watch would have been the ultimate accessory that could only have been afforded by the very rich, royalty and nobility. The carrying of perfume was also thought to offer protection from disease, it was believed that there was an association between illness and bad smells. Perfume was such an exotic extravagance that for an individual to be able to both afford perfume and then contain it within superb decorative vinaigrette was to have reached the pinnacle of social distinction and provided an active display of grandeur and wealth.
Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775-1841) and Henry Capt (1773-1841), were important watchmakers, goldsmiths and jewellers who worked in partnership from 1802-1811 and specialized in musical and automaton watches. Capt, Piguet's brother-in-law, was one of the first in Geneva to use the pinned cylinder and tuned-tooth comb musical mechanism.