Watch with enamelled gold case depicting Faith, Hope and Charity, made by Nicolas Bernard, Paris, 1640-1650

V&A — Summary

The case of this watch is a fine example of an important development in the history of enamelling. In about 1630 improved techniques made it possible to execute miniature painting in enamel in a wide range of colours. The metal was covered with an enamel ground and fired in the kiln. It was then painted with metal oxides mixed with oil. Each colour had to be fired in turn to fuse it onto the enamel ground. Such was the potential of the new technique that some watchcases, like this one, became wider and flatter to provide an extensive surface for enamelling. The technique was used to decorate watches and other goldsmiths' work as well as to paint portraits in minature. The key figures in this development, among whom the leading role is given to Jean Toutin (1578-1644), were enamellers and goldsmiths in Paris, Blois and Châteaudun who had close links with watchmakers. Nicolas Bernard, who put his name to the movement of the watch, became a master in the Paris Corporation of Clockmakers in 1636. He had a son in 1642 and died in 1670. In 1645 he was one of five watchmakers who put forward twenty-four articles to provide a new constitution for the Corporation, which received the approval of Louis XIV on 20 February 1646.

V&A — Physical description

Watch with gold case decorated with painted enamel, the movement of gilt brass and blued steel. The case is painted with Charity on the front, and Faith and Hope on the back. The sides, dial, reverse of the lid and interior of the case are painted with landscape scenes. The dial has a single double-ended hand, gilt and engraved. The movement has a verge escapement with steel balance wheel. The single-foot balance cock and the cover for the ratchet regulator are pierced and engraved. Brass plates and wheels. Fusee with renewed gut line.

V&A — Historical context

The case of this watch is a fine example of an important development in the history of enamelling. In about 1630 improved techniques made it possible to execute miniature painting in enamel in a wide range of colours. The metal was covered with an enamel ground and fired in the kiln. It was then painted with metal oxides mixed with oil. Each colour had to be fired in turn to fuse it onto the enamel ground. Such was the potential of the new technique that some watchcases, like this one, became wider and flatter to provide an extensive surface for enamelling. The technique was used to decorate watchcases and other goldsmiths' work as well as to paint portraits in minature. The key figures in this development, among whom the leading role is given to Jean Toutin (1578-1644), were enamellers and goldsmiths in Paris, Blois and Châteaudun who had close links with watchmakers. There has been considerable discussion about how the techniques employed in the new painted enamels differed from those which went before, but it is apparent that the effect was different: previously it had not been possible to create enamel paintings in such a wide range of colours as to rival or to copy an oil painting. Nicolas Bernard, who put his name to the movement of the watch, became a master in the Paris Corporation of Clockmakers in 1636. He had a son in 1642 and died in 1670. In 1645 he was one of five watchmakers who put forward twenty-four articles to provide a new constitution for the Corporation, which received the approval of Louis XIV on 20 February 1646.

V&A — Object history

Purchased at the auction by Christie's of the collection of Ralph Bernal (1783-1854), politician and art collector, in 1855. He held a seat in the House of Commons from 1815-52. After his death the Society of Arts proposed without success that the Government should buy his entire collection for the Museum of Ornamental Art then at Marlborough House which became the future South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert Museum. 730 lots were acquired for Marlborough House (Anthony Burton, Vision & Accident, V&A Publications, 1999, p. 34). After his father's death in 1811, Bernal inherited three large sugar estates and over 500 enslaved people in Jamaica. 'In 1835 and 1836 he was awarded compensation for slave ownership amounting to over £11,450' (Helen Davies, Ralph Bernal, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, version dated 11 March 2021).