Watch
Record status
Individual type · partial
Watch is an object recorded by Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum's brief description reads: Watch with enamelled gold case and movement by Jacques Huon, Paris, 1640-50; shagreen outer case.
Museum description: The case of this watch is finely enamelled in the floral style which was superbly executed in Paris and Blois in the middle of the seventeenth century. The enamelled centre of the dial is similar to designs for dials in his Livre de fleurs propres pour Orfèvres et Graveurs published by Jacques Vauquer (1621-86) in Blois. The flowers are painted in enamel. In about 1630 improved techniques made it possible to execute miniature painting in enamel in a wide range of colours, as on the inside of the case of this watch.
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… 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
The case of this watch is finely enamelled in the floral style which was superbly executed in Paris and Blois in the middle of the seventeenth century. The enamelled centre of the dial is similar to designs for dials in his Livre de fleurs propres pour Orfèvres et Graveurs published by Jacques Vauquer (1621-86) in Blois. The flowers are painted in enamel. In about 1630 improved techniques made it possible to execute miniature painting in enamel in a wide range of colours, as on the inside of the case of this watch. 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…
Identification
- Museum object name
- Watch
- Museum object number
- 7715&A-1862
- Museum system number
- O377037
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.