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Jehan Chesneau (active about 1610 - 1628)
Elongated octagonal silver cased verge watch

Movement: J Chesneau, A Orlens, c. 1620

case; silver

case 48.5 mm length case 27 mm width case 20.6 mm thickness movement 26.15 mm length movement 21.25 mm width pillar 8.85 mm height
case 48.5 mm length case 27 mm width case 20.6 mm thickness movement 26.15 mm length movement 21.25 mm width

Case: Elongated octagonal all-silver case with integral back and hinged lid. The outside of the lid has eight small panels engraved with foliate scrolls, cherubs and birds surrounding a larger central panel deeply engraved with a depiction of Charity. The back is similarly decorated around the outside but with a depiction of Hope in the middle. Cast silver foliate pendant with loose ring. Small turned finial. Dial: Elongated octagonal silver dial engraved with foliate scrolls and cherubs around an engraved chapter-ring with hours I-XII and arrow-head half-hour marks with two circles with dots at the hours around the inner. The area within the chapter-ring is engraved with a town-scape. Blued-steel hand. Movement: Elongated octagonal gilt-brass plates with four baluster pillars. Gilt-brass barrel with ratchet and click set-up. Fusee with gut-line and standard stop-work. Three wheel going train. Verge escapement. The steel two-arm balance has a burnished finish. Pierced foliate balance cock pinned to a stud on the back plate. Movement signed: J Chesneau A Orlens Jehan Chesneau, Orleans, active about 1610-28. Literature: Baillie, Watches, 1929, pl. XVIII.2. Notes: An all silver case of this style is very unusual. The normal construction consists of a gilt-brass frame onto which are attached a silver back and lid and around which is an applied silver band. It may be that this case is a 19th-century copy of an original from another watch.

Bequeathed by J. Francis Mallett, 1947.

WA1947.191.39

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