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Lot 74
John Garth. A fine late 18th century 22ct gold repoussé pair case pocket watchNumbered 365, Circa 1760
18 December 2012, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,200 - £2,400
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John Garth. A fine late 18th century 22ct gold repoussé pair case pocket watch
Numbered 365, Circa 1760
Fusee verge movement with pierced and engraved balance cock and steel 3-arm balance, silvered regulation, squared baluster pillars, signed brass cap, white enamel dial with painted Roman numerals and outer Arabic numerals, blued steel hands, polished round inner case, outer repoussé case depecting the seated figure of the Goddess Cybelle, movement signed 49mm.
Fusee verge movement with pierced and engraved balance cock and steel 3-arm balance, silvered regulation, squared baluster pillars, signed brass cap, white enamel dial with painted Roman numerals and outer Arabic numerals, blued steel hands, polished round inner case, outer repoussé case depecting the seated figure of the Goddess Cybelle, movement signed 49mm.
Footnotes
Cybelle, the 'mother goddess' is generally represented in a sitting posture in a chariot pulled by lions, with a lighted torch in one hand, and a sphere or drum in the other. In this particular depiction, rather than being seated in a lofty chariot, she is seated within in a walled city, with a cornocopia in one hand and a key in the other. This is to suggest that she is both the keeper of cities and of winter, which she keeps locked away until the summer, when she dispenses summer.
According to Greek and Roman legends both, Cybelle loved a shepherd named Attis, who went mad and killed himself. Cybelle, in distress, asked Jupiter to restore him. Jupiter responded by making Attis into a pine tree. Symbolically, this allowed him to eternally embrace Cybelle, with his roots in the earth.