Jewel cabinet with watch

Purveyor James Cox British

After a design by Antoine Watteau French

After a design by François Boucher French

probably ca. 1765–70

Not on view

Probably made for the domestic market, the cabinet has doors that consist of enameled personifications of Winter and Summer after paintings of the Four Seasons by the British portraitist and genre painter Robert Pyle, who had a brief vogue in London between about 1760 and 1768. The anonymous enameler may have worked directly from the paintings or from contemporaneous mezzotints. The enamels on the side of the cabinet were adapted from prints of paintings by Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) and François Boucher (1703–1770). With characteristic inventiveness, Cox included a secret drawer above the more obvious drawers that is released by means of a jeweled button on the back of the cabinet. The watch is supported by two playful cherubs of cast and painted brass and surmounted by a bust of a lady.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Jewel cabinet with watch
Purveyor: James Cox (British, ca. 1723–1800)
Artist: After a design by Antoine Watteau (French, Valenciennes 1684–1721 Nogent-sur-Marne)
Artist: After a design by François Boucher (French, Paris 1703–1770 Paris)
Date: probably ca. 1765–70
Culture: British, London
Medium: Case: agate, mounted in gilded copper and gilded brass and set with painted enamel on copper plaques, and fruitwood; Dial: white enamel
Dimensions: Overall: 13 1/2 × 9 3/4 × 7 1/2 in. (34.3 × 24.8 × 19.1 cm)
Classification: Horology
Credit Line: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Object Number: 64.101.829
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Pair-case automaton watch, James Cox British, Outer case: gold, partly enameled and set with gemstones and paste jewels; Inner case: gold; Dial: white enamel, with frame set with paste jewels; Movement: with diamond endstone, British, London — Pair-case automaton watch
James Cox
Peter Mounier
ca. 1770

Miniature secretary incorporating a watch, James Cox British, Case: agate, with gold mounts, gilded brass, pearls, and paste jewels set in silver; Dial: white enamel; Movement: wheel balance and cock set with paste jewels, British, London — Miniature secretary incorporating a watch
James Cox
ca. 1766–72

Nécessaire, James Cox British, Case: moss agate, mounted in gold and set with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds; silver; Dial: white enamel, with frame pavé-set with paste jewels, British, London — Nécessaire
James Cox
ca. 1770–72

Automaton in the form of a chariot pushed by a Chinese attendant and set with a clock, James Cox British, Case: gold with diamonds and paste jewels set in silver, pearls; Dial: white enamel; Movement: partly gilded brass and steel, wheel balance and cock of silver set with paste jewels, British, London — Automaton in the form of a chariot pushed by a Chinese attendant and set with a clock
James Cox
1766

Traveling clock watch with alarm, Thomas Tompion British, Case and dial: silver; Movement: gilded brass, partly blued steel, silver, British, London — Traveling clock watch with alarm
Thomas Tompion
Nathanial Delander I
ca. 1680

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