Henry Capt Enamel Painting Pocket Watch
Inventory Number: PW2303008LC
Made in Geneva, Switzerland, circa 1885, signed Henry Capt. 38mm, 18K yellow gold case. No. 37274. Painted polychrome enamel miniature depicting the "Madonna Della Sedia" after the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael, the original artwork was dating to c. 1513-1514 and is housed in the Palazzo Pitti collection in Florence. It depicts Mary embracing the child Christ, while the young John the Baptist devoutly watches. Surrounded by engraved foliage and rose-cut diamond decoration. Engine-turned floral decorated gilt dial, Roman numerals on the blank chapter ring, subsidiary seconds, engraved scroll and foliate decorated circular case, translucent royal blue enamel on the engine-turned background to both sides, the back centered by a diamond set star motif. Gilt-finished cylinder movement, gold cuvette engraved Jessica Murphy 1887.
Functions: hours, minutes, and small seconds.
On loan from the private collection of Mr. Yeung Sau Wong.
About Watchmaker
Henry-Daniel Capt (1773- 1841) is one of the most famous Swiss automata makers, he came from a wealthy family. In his youth, he worked for a legendary maker of large automata, Jaquet Droz. When settled on his own and established, in 1802, a partnership with his brother in law, Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775-1841). They made extraordinary complicated watches, musical and automata scenes incorporated into watches, snuff-boxes or other objects like rings, brooches, pendants, etc. Among the first in Geneva to use the musical mechanism with pinned cylinder and tuned teeth comb. After 1811, when Piguet joined Philippe-Samuel Meylan (1772-1845), Capt worked on his own, creating his most spectacular pieces. He sometimes also would supply the new firm of his brother in law, Piguet & Meylan (1811-1828), as well as some others, which is the reason why his watches are rarely signed. Another partnership with Aubert et Fils in 1830. The firm was taken over by his son, Henry Capt, in 1844. A shop was opened on the Rue du Rhône in 1855 which became quickly famous. During the 1870s, the Henry Capt company advertised that they were the only Geneva watch manufacturer to have a branch retail house in London. Branches were also established in Paris, Nice and New York.
Glossary of Material Terms
Enamel
A vitreous substance which main component is silica mixed with oxides (transition metals) that create a vast palette of colors. Enamel is used to decorate metal surfaces, gold, silver, and copper.
Painting on the Enamel
A gold or copper plate is coated with base enamel and then fired. The colors are in powder form which the enamel-painter dilutes as and when they are needed using an oily or semi-oily essence, before applying them with a fine brush. Each color is dried and then fired before the next is applied. A work can be fired numerous times.
