Jacob van der Cloesen, Leiden. A fine and rare gold pair case quarter repeating watch with repoussé outer case by David Dupont


Date: circa 1740Movement: Gilt full plate with fusee and verge escapement, tapered baluster pillars, scroll pierced cock engraved with shell and grotesque mask, repeating with two hammers on bell by depressing pendant, signed gilt dust capDial: White enamel, roman chapters within arcaded arabic minute ring, pierced gilt handsCase: Inner pierced and finely engraved with scrolls, struck twice with incuse mark SG, fish above for the London case maker Stephen Goujon; outer signed D. DuPont fc. depicting the wedding feast at Cana within a symmetrical scroll cartouche chased between with portrait busts of Mary, Jesus and the bride and groomSize: 50mm
|The present watch is an example of the close ties between English and Dutch watchmakers during the 18th century. The chaser David Dupont (b. 1712) was a Huguenot from Amsterdam who emigrated to London. Edgcumbe records several London watches with Dupont cases and illustrates another repeating watch by Jacob van der Cloesen,in the collection of the British Museum, with a variant of the same scene by Dupont, the inner case also by Stephen Goujon .See: Edgcumbe, Richard. The Art of the Gold Chaser in Eighteenth Century London. Oxford (2000), pp 42-44, figs 19a – 19f.The Hague maker Bernard van der Cloesen (d. 1736) and his son Jacob (1692 -1767) were prominent Dutch clock makers working in the English style.Bernard came to Leiden in 1710 to refurbish a monumental clockwork Copernican planetarium known as the "Leiden Sphera" that has been constructed about 1670 by the Englishman Stephen Tracy. Jacob remained in Leiden and, in 1721, was appointed the city Clockmaker. From 1719 to 1750 he was the keeper of the tower clock at the Leiden University.In 1728 Jacob succeeded his father as keeper of the Leiden Sphera. He held this position until he was, in turn, succeeded by his son Bernard Jr. in 1753. Still active, Jacob constructed a precision clock for the University in 1757.The planetarium was an important showpiece for visitors to the library of the University well into the 19th century. In 1931 it was given to the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden where it remains today.