Watch
Jean Rousseau
ca. 1650–60 · Case: rock crystal mounted in gilded brass; Dial: silver and black enamel with gilded-brass hand; Movement: gilded brass and partly blued steel · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Constantijn Huygens wrote to his brother, the brilliant mathematician Christiaan Huygens, from Geneva on January 5, 1650, that he had just bought a watch "á la mode" with a case of rock crystal that permitted a view of the movement such as one would see if the case were made of ice. Indeed, Geneva was well-known for its rock crystal watchcases made from a local source of the mineral. The movement of this watch has a verge escapement, and it is probably the product of the younger Jean Rousseau, a son of a master clockmaker in Geneva and the great-grandfather of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
- Artist
- Jean Rousseau
- Date
- ca. 1650–60
- Medium
- Case: rock crystal mounted in gilded brass; Dial: silver and black enamel with gilded-brass hand; Movement: gilded brass and partly blued steel
- Culture
- Swiss, Geneva
- Department
- European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Credit line
- Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
