A rare and fine documentary English gold and enamel duplex pocket watch made for the Chinese...

A rare and fine documentary English gold and enamel duplex pocket watch made for the Chinese market c.1820, by William Ilbery, the white enamel dial with a large subsidiary second hand and gold hour and minute hands, pierced with tulip buds. The movement profusely engraved with scrolling foliage and flowerheads, the duplex escapement with a five-armed steel balance and diamond endstone. Signed 'Ilbery, London, no.5825' on the balance cock foot, the hanging going barrel with stop work, the flip-up cuvette engine turned with a geometric design, the reverse finely decorated with eight peacock feathers encircled by ropes of linked laurel and flowers, all on a dark blue basse taille enamel ground. The bezels and pendant enamelled with rosettes and gold swags, 5.8cm dia.

The interior is inscribed 'From the Summer Palace, Pekin, Chinese War 1860, Captn. T.A.J. Harrison, R.A.'.

Provenance: The Summer Palace, Beijing, 1860. Thomas Arthur John Harrison, R A,(1832-1873), and thence by descent.

Cf. The Complete Collection of Treasures of The Palace Museum, Scientific and Technical Instruments of The Qing Dynasty, p.259, no.232 for a closely related watch also by William Ilbery in the Qing court collection.

William Ilbery (1780-1839), specialised in watches for the Chinese market, and appears to have introduced the style now known as 'la montre Chinoise', in which the decoration of the movement, as well as the highly decorated case-work, became a principal feature.

1820年代  鎏金嵌琺瑯懷錶

來源：安士·約翰·哈瑞森上尉收藏