Thursday, January 22, 2015

Like No Other

A truly unique artwork that caught our attention emerged at the Gallery of New South Wales' exhibition "European Prints and Drawings 1500-1900" a couple of weeks ago. It's hard to believe such a print was produced in 1649.

The title of the work is aptly named "Like no Other" which is a fantastic play on words, with a triple meaning. Firstly it depicts Jesus who was a man like no other. It was created by a technique never seen before so the artwork is also like no other. Finally the artist, Claude Mellan, believed that nobody would ever be able to recreate the masterpiece in the same style, making himself 'like no other'.

What does this have to do with watches? The answer is that here lies a piece of exceptional workmanship. It took Mellan years to make, and is more a thing of dedication and precision than creative freedom. Consisting of a single spiral varying in thickness to form the features of the print, parallels are drawn to the coiled "heart" of the mechanical watch. Thus of course any watch enthusiast would be attracted to a piece like this.

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