Watch, Jan Bernardus Vrythoff, France, 1640-1660
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1640-1660
Watch, Jan Bernardus Vrythoff, France, 1640-1660 is an object recorded by Victoria and Albert Museum, dated 1640-1660. The museum's brief description reads: Watch with gold case decorated with figures and landscapes in painted enamel, France, 1640-60, with a later movement by J. Bernard Vrythoff, The Hague, ca. 1720-60. Museum description: Gold watch. The case is enamelled in polychrome on the back with figures who can reasonably be identified as Mars wearing a breastplate. Venus, and Cupid who holds Mars's helment. On the front two cupids and a female figure, presumably Venus, holding an arrow directed towards a heart. Around the side of the case are landscape vignettes. Inside the back of the case is a landscape with a seated man with a large burden on his back. On the reverse of the lid is a man fishing in a landscape. The centre of the dial is painted in enamel with a seated woman with her left hand extended. A cupid in the foreground holds a drawn bow with an arrow pointing towards her heart. White enamel chapter ring with Roman numerals and half-hour marks. Gilt-metal hands. Brass movement plates. Cylindrical pillars. Fusee and chain. Verge escapement. Balance wheel and spring, with regulator of Tompion type, with… The museum record gives material recorded as gold, enamel, gilt-brass, steel, silver; measurements Height 71 mm; Diameter 62 mm; Depth 24 mm; place associated: France, The Hague; maker recorded: Jan Bernardus Vrythoff. These details come from the holding museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
Enamelled watchcases continued to be valued in the eighteenth century. Some were turned into gold boxes. Others, like this one, had a more movement inserted. In about 1630 improved techniques made it possible to execute miniature painting in enamel in a wide range of colours. The metal was covered with an enamel ground and fired in the kiln. It was then painted with metal oxides mixed with oil. Each colour had to be fired in turn to fuse it onto the enamel ground. Such was the potential of the new technique that some watchcases, like this one, became wider and flatter to provide an extensive surface for enamelling. The technique was used to decorate watchcases and other goldsmiths' work as well as to paint portraits in minature. The key figures in this development, among whom the leading role is given to Jean Toutin (1578-1644), were enamellers and goldsmiths in Paris, Blois and Châteaudun who had close links with watchmakers. There has been considerable discussion about how the techniques employed in the new painted enamels differed from those which went before, but it is apparent that the effect was different: previously it had not been possible to create enamel paintings in such a wide range of colours as to rival or to copy an oil painting.
Physical characteristics
- Material
- gold, enamel, gilt-brass, steel, silver
- Dimensions
- Height 71 mm; Diameter 62 mm; Depth 24 mm
Technical characteristics
- Technique
- Watch with gilt-metal and steel movement with silver regulator dial and with case and dial decorated in painted enamel
- Maker recorded
- Jan Bernardus Vrythoff
- Place recorded
- France, The Hague
Design
- Inscriptions recorded
- 'J. Bernardus / Vrythoff /HAGAE N 162'
Identification
- Museum attribution
- Jan Bernardus Vrythoff
- Museum object name
- Watch
- Museum object number
- 4869-1901
- Museum system number
- O377036
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm materials, dimensions, maker and wider type against the museum record and a specialist reference.