2015 Year of the Goat

Description:

2015 Year of the goat

Montre Métiers d‘Art - Shepherdess

18 kt rose gold case, 41 mm diameter, historical hand-winding movement by Fontainemelon, caliber FHF 96, 17 jewels, 18‘000A/h, 48 hours power reserve. Decorated with Côtes Geneve, screws, ratchet wheels and crown wheel blued.

A miniature pigment painting on the reverse of the sapphire crystal. Digital time display à „Souscription“ hours and minutes shown by a revolving hour disk made of solid polished mother of pearl.

Shepherdess by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732 - 1806 was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. Among his most popular works are genre paintings conveying an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism.

Rococo is an 18th-century artistic movement and style, affecting many aspects of the arts including painting, sculpture, architecture, interior design, decoration, literature, music, theatre and watchmaking.

It developed in the early 18th century in Paris, France as a reaction against the grandeur, symmetry, and strict regulations of the Baroque, especially of the Palace of Versailles.

Rococo artists and artisans used a more jocular,





florid, and graceful approach to the Baroque. Their style was ornate and used light colours, asymmetrical designs, curves, and gold. Unlike the political Baroque, the Rococo had playful and witty themes.

The interior decoration of Rococo rooms was designed as a total work of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings. The Rococo was also important in theatre.

The book The Rococo states that no other culture „has produced a wittier, more elegant, and teasing dialogue full of elusive and camouflaging language and gestures, refined feelings and subtle criticism“ than Rococo theatre, especially that of France.

In the late Rococo Period, William Ilbery, a British watchmaker arrived in Macau with a collection of watches where he opened a new market for a new species of watches - the so called „Montre Chinoise“.

It was just the playful use of forms and colors of the Rococo, which corresponded to the taste of the Chinese customers.

With London and Paris, Geneva became an important  center, manufacturer and exporter of watches for China, appreciated for their movement and case making, Metiers d‘Art engraving, enamel and miniature painting, stone and pearl setting.
 

PDF sheet: 2015 - Year of the Goat