1800s Art Nouveau Miniature Ruby Flower Enamel Spring Bloom Tiffany Style Clock

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1800s Art Nouveau Miniature Ruby Flower Enamel Spring Bloom Tiffany Style Clock

About the Item

A Miniature Specially Designed Unique Art Nouveau 1800s French, Premier Butterfly & Flower “Spring Bloom” Enamel Tiffany Art of Enameling Style Full 4 Hand Painted Series Style Boudoir, Desk, Travel Carriage Clock designed with Breguet Ruby Jeweled Ultra-Thin Carriage Clock Movement Technology & Specially Designed Double Hand Painted Red & Blue Enamel “Bulls Eye” Dial with Gold Speckled Ball InLay Frame Trim Paneling & designed with Breguet Style Fancy Hand Painted Steel Blue Beetle Poker Hour & Minute Hands Case Dimensions & Basic Overview - 40mm Base width Across x 56mm Tall from the Bottom of Base to Case Top *When handle is upright: 75mm From Base Bottom to Top of Handle - 34mm Case Depth - 20mm Specially Designed Dial Diameter - 23mm across width x 43mm Tall Hand Painted Enamel Panels - Movement & Case Serial Numbered & Hallmarked - Recently Serviced in Original Unrestored Perfect Working Condition with no Enamel Loss Special Features - Extremely Difficult Design with many vibrant colors across multiple panels designed with - 50 flowers hand painted in over 7 different hues of pastel colors and with 2 butterflies, 4 pine trees, & over 140 flower leaves & vine all differently designed in blooming status(s) across 4 panels with excellent attention to detail throughout. - Additional Special Attention with Gold Speckled Ball Inlay Enamel Frame/Trim To both Side & Case Back Panels - Premier Famous “Spring Bloom” Miniature Enamel Panel Series Design illustrated across all 4 Clock panels in Hand Painted Tiffany Style Art of Enamel Motif Matching Scenes to the Front Dial Side, Right Side Left Side Panels & Back Door Case Panel - Specially Designed Dial with Double Hand Painted “Bulls Eye” Moti Enamel Dial with Hand Painted Red Enamel Seconds Outer Register & Fancy Hand Painted Blue Enamel for Roman Numeral Hour & Minute Numbering system -Designed with Hand Painted Fancy Steel Blue French Enamel Breguet “Beetle Poker” Hour & Minute Hands - Special Attention with Rare French Hand Cut Beveled Miniature Glass to Front Dial Side & Case Top *Only implemented on select premier period creations for a very limited timeframe as very costly to produce and seldom last overtime as many examples are damaged over time - Additional to Case Design Concept with Top Skeletonized design which reveals a fully Jeweled RubySet Key Wind Movement with Breguet ultra thin carriage Movement Technology for balancing compensation for then state-of-the-art accuracy Catalog Note The present example is specially designed, and very well made miniature 4 panel enamel carriage clock designed in the heart of the Art Nouveau Period of the 1800s with high quality tiffany art of enameling style design panel series and deploying a state of the art Breguet Ruby jeweled ultra-thin carriage clock movement technology illustrating one of the most beautiful period iconic concepts in the period’s art history associated with objects of vertu associated with timekeeping – the changing of the seasons as time marches on known as “The Spring Bloom” designed with different stages of flowers growing and butterflies soaring as the snow melts away. During the present timeframe, the leading timepiece design firms were attempting to put forth never attempted designs deploying state of the art enameling techniques for their most important client request and specially commissions for their clients to often gift loved ones or foreign ambassadors as well as accompany them on their voyages afar. Simultaneously, timepieces such as enamel pendant lapel watches which could also be worn versatile on the lapels of jackets, long necklaces or within the interior of coats on watch chain were becoming an increasingly growing fashion throughout European’s most elite members and royalty in society and around the world and growing expected accessory for most members of society to have several and during each occasion even ones for different styles of dress or uses of purpose. As technology expanded in transportation allowing the world’s elite to travel more easily than any previous societies by water routes across oceanic & newly explored river routes from one country or city to another, a very special demand for new types of enamel pieces in the forms of objects of vertu which were extremely different than any other creations such as the present design concept were specially executed. These examples required very long in-depth processes that was extremely costly and relied on collaboration by multiple master experts to produce miniaturized carriage clock creations as they were also extremely well made and premier enamel designs. They were highly sought after as they offered a broader scope of design with greater enamel art abilities to be displayed since they would offer more enamel workspace to be hand painted across 4 panels giving the master enameller artists since would have a larger ability to be creative than found on pendant/pocket watches which only had one or possibly two sides for an enameller to hand paint. The only obstacle here though, would be the element of mobility since 4 panel carriage clocks were traditionally too large to accompany its owner so easily and despite being more decorative were still to heavy and difficult to travel with hence the creation of the present concept a very early prototype miniature enamel carriage clock. However, the concept of a carriage travel clock was only first really conceived in the late 1790s into the early 1830s by Breguet’s workshop, but the innovation in technology was still an extremely new and really an untested science to produce so especially in the concept of a miniature carriage clock design it was a very revolutionary stage in development towards the invention of the modern wristwatches that proceeded as the present example deployed state of the art techniques from enameling to engineering and also case design to illustrate and house the new concept for a travel clock as an alternative to a lapel or pocket watch and would require immense special attention to detail not only from master enamellers, expert case making master metallurgists but also equally in the department of engineering to produce the same technology found within the newly introduced miniature carriage clock concept that was much larger and usually approximate 5-10 inches at least and transition that innovation into a miniature timekeeping work of art small enough to allows its user to fit it into their pocket as easily as the enamel pendant lapel watches that were so popular so the concept became extremely high in demand by only society’s most elite as the enamel pendant watches became more easily produced and more commonly ordered in addition to the growing trend of lapel and often would be paired together with a lapel to match at times even since many clients would like to have a matching set. The present concept represents this innovation as it is designed with a specially hand painted 4 panel enamel series design concept that serves as a premier example for this period in the tiffany art of enameling series style of this period. As depicted, the Miniature scenes motif is by no means random and specifically enameled in a sequence of events to depict the story of the first budding of spring’s bloom from the beginning of snowy pine trees covered in snow and budded flowers found to the bottom right of the front dial side and continues to depict in the enamel panel scenes on the additional sides slowly revealing the opening of the flowers and with it the gloating butterflies which mark the dawn of the new cycle of life which the spring season was so emblematic of and colorful flowers that are fully open. In greater design, The design on the front dial features 4 hand painted wintery Pine trees carefully depicted to appear with against an icy blue snow backdrop on the bottom left and on the dial side front right panel the dial is designed with a scene featuring 8 wild flowers in multiple hues of violet purples, pinks g & orange al appearing to grow at different rates of blooming status and adorned by hand painted flower vines and leaves underneath the hand painted double enamel bullseye red and blue dial also designed with a 2nd panel enamel inlay as a means to produce the specially ordered dial and create the first enamel scene In the 4 panel series. To the Right 2nd panel of the clock, the side of the clock is designed in three stages first with a sub back panel of a pastel lavender enamel background and then with a 2nd panel designed with gold inlay speckled balls to frame the smaller more detailed inner 3rd panel. Each section independently and carefully hand painted and set into one another meticulously to provide the correct depths to match the clock. The inner panel which is extremely detailed is further decorated with Red butterfly to top left and 5 different colors of wild flowers all Depicted to be blooming at different rates in extremely difficult to produce vibrant hues especially in close proximity from vibrant reds, to dark purples, pinks, royal blues and yellow flowers fully blooming to take up the entire panel and also with vibrant light and dark green leaves all very carefully hand painted with detail to depict the leaves vines and flower petals with different depths and also completely different form shapes of perspective growing toward the sun and upright as well as straight outwards further demonstrating how unique the concept was and additional planning that must have been executed. In addition to the right side of the clock moving clockwise towards to 3rd enamel scene is the reverse case back which conceals the movement, the case back panel is also similarly designed in a three segment creation where the case backdrop is designed in a matching vibrant pastel lavender backdrop also to represent the theme of spring and with a second inner panel of gold inlay to create the framed trim as found on both other side panels however again with another completely different enamel design found on all the other sides depicting on the inner enamel scene the series from the first dial panel which is of 7 different colored hues of wild spring bloom flowers from two royal blue with yellow pollen centers, pastel purples in full bloom and 5 in the different stages of budding as well as a yellow and orange flower also mid bloom all encompassed by two variations in greens dark and light hues carefully designed to detail the growing flower leaves. Finally to the final scene which the other side of the miniature work of art is the identical design to the other three sides which also is designed with a 3 segment concept for the panel also depicting a pastel background enameling for backdrop and then two inner panels one with gold inlay framing and in the center the more detailed scene also specially designed differently then the other scenes to have all flowers in 7 vibrant colors all in full bloom with a vibrant royal blue butterfly taking flight to the top left of the panel and 12 flowers in total and several purple and yellow flowers still in budding form all carefully hand painted also with specially designed vine and leaf motif that is carefully detailed and hand painted all in different segments and requiring extremely high skill level to produce to avoid risk of damage or bleeding. The overall detail on this piece is extremely ornate and very difficult for this period especially by comparison to other creations with more singular coloring and less vibrant colors. In order to produce such an example there were immense challenges especially in creating such a work of art both internally from a mechanical engineering standpoint and to produce the exterior art of enameling which required advanced chemistry and metallurgy skillsets. Not only did the present example have double or triple the amount of enameling displayed on it then what was required on open face enamel lapel pendant watch which only had one to two sides, but certain colors specifically in enameling are much more difficult to achieve especially. The more vibrant hues of brighter colors such as blues, pinks, yellows and reds especially require many times over a special heating process to bring out the coloring to full vibrancy. In addition, as the present example is also set against white backdrop this element becomes even more difficult and timely because the likelihood of overheating or underheating as new colors are hand painted with each flower adorned the risk of colors bleeding into one another becomes a more likelihood issue and would force the enameller to have to redo the panel as a result. The present example incorporates over 7 different colors Within each panel and to do each time panel, there was additional case workmanship to hand cut the flower butterfly tree figures into the panels and hand paint enamel colors then reheat in their sections in an extremely close proximity and at a highly meticulous level. Once this process was executed, as also demonstrated the sides and case back you will also notice that there is a gold inlay frame trim that has gold beaded inlay which frames each scene that was also executed afterwards and has a stepped enamel design panel as a result to keep the backdrop behind each panel a very beautiful pastel pink backdrop. The dial also confirms just how much special attention went into this piece it is multi layered in design with the front panel designed with hand painted trees to the bottom left covered in snow and to the right corner the spring flowers still budded. To produce this design, it was specially designed as well because the dial is set into the front panel separately, so it had to also be designed in steps and laid in with specific architecture in mind as well and even the dial was also extremely well designed as it like the entire piece was also hand painted with red outer seconds register and inner blue fancy hand painted roman numeral hour and minute markers. To finish the piece, even the hands are premier which are also hand painted with the most desirable type for this period Breguet hand painted steel blue enamel “Beetle.Poker” hands. In paintings from this period, pastel enamels and vibrant hues were the most acclaimed and the present example which was specifically designed over many stages to portray the spring bloom was also one of the most difficult to produce as described above and created the foundation for many enamellers to draw inspiration from as well as take advantage of to implement these now new pathways in technology which were being created as a result in both enameling and watchmaking to produce additional examples based on these early pieces in an effort to better them further and produce additional special commissions years later. As the present example designed was able to achieve these higher color hues the present example could take advantage of the additional space to showcase their enamel skills due to the additional canvas space that present miniature carriage clock is designed with but the obstacle of producing a movement small enough to fit into such a miniature case that would keep time was the next major obstacle in design once the obstacles in art of enameling such hues and scenes were surpassed. THE CARRIAGE CLOCK TECHNOLOGY & THE INNOVATION FOR MINIATURIZATION On most examples, special commissions for miniature enamel clocks were difficult as it was to produce and these Lesser examples from this period would have not only been designed with far less specialized attention to detail to the enameling with only a front panel enameled, obvious differences with also less attention to the extra enameling found on the dial itself and moreover in the casework and especially important to note also these interior would not incorporate the present carriage clock movement technology either which was the best timekeeping device for a miniaturized carriage found on the present example which works identical to full size carriage clock but innovated as a miniaturized carriage clock technology. More common and more mass produced designs which were not as significant would reduce cost by incorporating lesser skilled enameling attention to detail but also the mechanism and movement technology was not a true carriage clock engineering as to reduce cost the firms would re-using a movement from small pocket watch or pendant watch as the timekeeping device for the inside and place it in the miniature carriage clock rather than recreate the carriage clock technology in miniature form as it was much easier to ensure that it would fit into a smaller case design instead.. This made for a far less significant The present example here differs from these lower grade examples because only the period's premier and high-grade examples such as, the present example are well thought out in every imaginable way to be consistent not only from the exterior with the case handles specially shaped and columns for neoclassical case design, but also interior to remain a true carriage clock mechanism despite being a miniature throughout and as a result these examples also separate themselves from other period examples as they deploy the finest and most beautiful color hues, motif panel sequences available during this timeframe with enamel hand painting as well. In addition to the extremely high grade movement design which is fully jeweled with ruby throughout the present example also deploys state of the art movement technology from this period which in this timeframe the major obstacle for engineering and master watchmakers was determining how to produce a clock that could maintain accuracy even through a changing mobile location would occur as its gears may be forced to shift place similar to that of the obstacles which more contemporary wristwatch movements were eventually forced to also overcome. As a means to do so , miniature carriage clocks had to have special balancing technology produced on the present example but miniaturized that the larger more standard carriage clocks were innovated with and became a very important revolutionary innovation in timepiece movement design & examples such as the present example represented the change in society attitude and the growing demand by premier watchmaking to supply their orders because it enabled the user to travel and move freely without having to fear that its accuracy would be effected or worse damaged forever as a result. As the primary source for more than individual to rely on the time while at sea or on trip with loved ones. CONDITION The present example is in excellent original unrestored condition. There are sharp serial numbers throughout, and all four enamel panels and enamel dial are also in excellent condition which further confirm that it was extremely well preserved for nearly the last 220 years as enameling especially is suspectable to damage given its extremely delicate nature to weather elements, scratch or rub off if mishandled. Additionally interesting to note, the beveled glass is also in remarkable condition and original which is irreplicable on such examples as it was hand cut to be beveled and miniaturized which is a rare attribute to find as typically other examples do not still have their original glass as they too can break over time making it an especially nice piece to collect. Finally, also important to note the mechanism is also in perfect working condition and has been recently serviced.

Metal:
Brass,Yellow Gold
Stone:
Ruby
Stone Cut:
Round Cut
Dimensions:
Height: 2.21 in (56 mm)Width: 1.58 in (40 mm)Depth: 1.34 in (34 mm)
Style:
Art Nouveau
Place of Origin:
Switzerland
Period:
Mid-19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1800s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
New york, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1212314458102