MOULINIÉ BAUTTE & CIE A GENEVE

MOULINIE BAUTTE & CIE A GENEVE, SWITZERLAND, THE PISTOL, AN EXTREMELY RARE PISTOL-SHAPED PERFUME BOTTLE SET WITH PEARLS, WITH CONCEALED WATCH, MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET, GOLD AND ENAMEL An extremely rare, important and fine gold, enamel and pearl-set, manual wind combined watch and perfume sprinkler, in the form of a pair of flintlock pistols. The grips decorated in translucent scarlet enamel over flinqué grounds, with small gold rosettes on black champlevé enamel with gold flowers, the borders set with half pearls. Gold plates finely chased with a dog on one side and a rabbit on the other, framed with half pearls. The barrels decorated in translucent cobalt-blue champlevé enamel over flinqué grounds, with raised gold scrollwork simulating damascene decoration. The perfume is released through the pistils of gold lotus flowers with enamelled petals, which are ejected from the barrels. Cocking the hammers winds the mechanism and simultaneously lowers the triggers. The watch is concealed in the end of the butts, with spring-loaded front and back covers bordered by half pearls, decorated with flinqué rosettes and centred with half pearls. White enamel dial with Arabic numerals and outer minute divisions. Gold hands. Brand: Moulinié Bautte & Cie a Geneve, Switzerland Model: THE PISTOL Year: Circa 1805 Caliber: 15 mm., gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain three-arm brass balance, continental cock pierced and engraved. Weight: 75 gr. Length: 110 Signature: Moulinié Bautte & Cie a Geneve under the trigger Accesories: fitted box Grading System: EXCEPTIONAL Case: 3 (Good) Dial: 3-01 (Good , HANDS Original) Movement: 3* (Good , Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense) HKD: 2,100,000 - 4,010,000 USD: 268,000 - 510,000 EUR: 238,000 - 454,000 JPY: 42,200,000 - 80,550,000 From the late 16th century onwards, the Chinese Imperial Court developed an extraordinary fascination for European clocks, watches, automata and mechanical curiosities. These objects were initially introduced to China as diplomatic gifts, most famously by Jesuit missionaries such as Matteo Ricci, who presented mechanical clocks to the Wanli Emperor in the early 17th century. Their novelty, technical sophistication and ingenious mechanisms made them objects of exceptional prestige at court. Under the Qing dynasty, and particularly during the reigns of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors, this fascination developed into a sophisticated and insatiable demand for European horological objects. Clocks and watches were no longer merely timekeeping instruments: they were symbols of wealth, learning and cosmopolitan taste, and formed an important part of the imperial collections. European clocks, automata and musical mechanisms were displayed in the imperial palaces and were frequently incorporated into elaborate objects designed to astonish and entertain. The growing demand created an important commercial opportunity for European makers. Swiss and English watchmakers, manufacturers and merchants increasingly regarded China as a highly lucrative market. European traders operating in Canton and other commercial centres became known in contemporary Chinese sources as Sing Song merchants, a term associated with the foreign watch and clock trade. In response to the tastes of the Chinese market, European makers developed highly imaginative objects specifically intended for export to China. Their creations combined the precision of European horological technology with the decorative vocabulary of the finest goldsmiths, enamellers, jewellers and craftsmen. These objects frequently took the form of animals, flowers, musical instruments, weapons, snuffboxes and other ingenious shapes, concealing within them miniature watches, automata, musical movements, repeating mechanisms or other complications. Their purpose was often as much to surprise and delight as to indicate the time. Extreme miniaturisation allowed remarkably complex mechanisms to be incorporated into objects of extraordinary refinement, resulting in a unique synthesis of mechanical ingenuity and decorative art. The importance of this trade is reflected in the extraordinary collections preserved today in the Palace Museum in Beijing, within the former Imperial Palace of the Forbidden City. More than one thousand European clocks and watches, together with numerous mechanical curiosities and automata, remain in the imperial collections, providing exceptional evidence of the scale and sophistication of the exchange between European horological workshops and the Chinese Imperial Court. The present object is a particularly remarkable expression of this tradition. Combining a miniature watch and a perfume sprinkler within the form of an elaborately decorated gold and enamel pistol, it represents a spectacular marriage of European horological ingenuity and the refined craftsmanship of the early 19th century. The conceit is especially ingenious: an object traditionally associated with weaponry is transformed into a precious and highly sophisticated luxury object, its functional elements concealed beneath an exquisitely decorated exterior. Such creations illustrate the extraordinary lengths to which European makers were prepared to go to satisfy the appetite of their most demanding patrons. The combination of a concealed timepiece, perfume sprinkler, goldsmith's work, polychrome enamel and pearl decoration required the collaboration of highly specialised craftsmen. The resulting object transcends the conventional definition of a watch, becoming simultaneously a horological instrument, a jewel, a curiosity and a symbol of status. The production of such highly complicated and visually spectacular objects was not restricted to the Chinese market. Similar creations were commissioned or acquired by European aristocratic and royal families throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Nevertheless, the Chinese market played a particularly important role in encouraging the development of fantastical forms and unprecedented combinations of horological complications and decorative arts. The present pistol-watch therefore belongs to a very rare category of objects born from the encounter between East and West: European mechanical ingenuity conceived for an international clientele, executed by some of the finest craftsmen of the period, and transformed into objects of extraordinary artistic and technical sophistication.

Estimate:£199,911.14

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