An Unusual 19th Century Chinese ‘Watch’ Design Porcelain Box and Cover

An Unusual 19th Century Chinese ‘Watch’ Design Porcelain Box and Cover, Jingdezhen Kilns, probably decorated in Canton. This novelty Chinese porcelain box is painted in imitation of an English or European pocket watch from the 19th century. The dial, with Roman numerals, is permanently set at around 14 minutes to one. For an almost identical box, but set to a different time see : La Porcelaine Des Compagnies Des Indes A Decor Occidental (Francois et Nicole Hervouet, Yves Bruneau – see Reference), not only is the watch set to a different time, but it is also attributed to a different time. The authors dated the watch box and cover to c.1765, it was sold by Christie’s in 1980, see References. Apart from the watch face which has black markings, the rest of the box is decorated in the Chinese taste, with a stylised border and a ‘cash’ diaper pattern. The base has a red-mark, this appears not to be in Gerald Davison’s The New & Revised Handbook of Marks on Chinese Porcelain (see References). However, Gerald has a section with four-character marks featuring the character Zao, the bottom left character on this box. These marks are connected with ‘made during’, for example ‘made during the Xuande period’. I don’t think it is one of those, but it seems likely it is a painter’s studio name from Canton. The red markings on the interior rims are so the correct top was added to the base.

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