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Watch key: M/P.105-1913

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Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Mother-of-pearl cameos of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-88) and Pierre Corneille (1606-84), both in contemporary dress and both facing in profile to right, with their respective names BUFFON and CORNEILLE in front of them, set back to back in an oval gold mount with a gold cockle shell at top and bottom centre, the former attached to a suspension ring, and the latter to the stem of a watch key

Notes

History note: Unknown before testator

Legal notes

F.G. Smart Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1913-06-05) by Smart, Frank Gray

Dating

18th Century, Late
Production date: circa AD 1800

Note

The sitters were George Louis le Clerc, comte de Buffon (1707-88), author of the 'Histoire naturelle . . .' (Paris 1749-88) and Pierre Corneille (1606-84), poet and dramatist

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Cameo composed of mother-of-pearl Height 3 cm Width 3.8 cm
Mount composed of gold

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: BUFFON
  • Location: In front of portrait to viewer's right
  • Method of creation: Engraved
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: CORNAILLES
  • Location: In front of portrait to viewer's right
  • Method of creation: Engraved
  • Type: Inscription

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: M/P.105-1913
Primary reference Number: 131078

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 29 April 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Watch key" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/131078 Accessed: 2025-12-08 07:22:33

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/131078 |title=Watch key |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-08 07:22:33|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-131078

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