Watch with portrait of Friedrick Wilhelm, the Great Elector | Johann G. Racine, Jean-Pierre Huaud | 17.190.1522 | Work of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Watch with portrait of Friedrick Wilhelm, the Great Elector

Maker: Watchmaker: Johann G. Racine (Swiss, active Berlin, recorded 1748)

Enameler: Case maker: Jean-Pierre Huaud, known as the younger Huaud (Swiss, 1655–1723)

Date: case ca. 1688, movement ca. 1750

Culture: Swiss, Geneva case with German, Berlin movement

Medium: Case: painted enamel on gold; Movement: brass and steel

Dimensions: Diameter (case): 1 9/16 in. (4 cm); Diameter (back plate): 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm)

Classification: Horology

Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Accession Number: 17.190.1522

Description

The miniature is a portrait of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia (1620–1688), who was known as the Great Elector. It was painted by the Swiss-born enamelist Jean-Pierre Huaud, who worked for a time at the court of the Elector in Berlin. Johann Racine, a watchmaker from Basel, evidently made a new movement for a treasured watchcase.

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